Avatar: The Ancient Power
by HybridAP
Summary: After an orphan from the Fire Nation discovers she's an airbender she sets out on a journey to discover her past. She finds out she is more important than she thought and her friends and she are the only ones who can save the world from destruction.
1. The Frozen Child

Ok, this is my first time using this site, so I might mess up a bit. :P

This is a story created entirely on my own based on the Avatar world. It stars original characters and an original plot line with appearances from minor characters in the show. Since this site won't let me use my normal method (pissed about that) I will use the horizontal break thingys to indicate either time has passed or it has gone to a flashback (except for the beginning and end notes :P )

I have the early chapters done but I am rewriting and updating them with more content. So time for me to shut up and for you to read. Enjoy.

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Summary:

Kali had never thought her life would amount to anything important. As she grew up in a Fire Nation orphanage during the war, she felt insignificant among the greater events happening around the world. Everything changed one day when she discovered she had the ability to airbend. Pursued by a Fire Nation General who appears to know more about her past than she does, she sets out on a journey across the world to discover where she came from. Along the way she makes many friends and enemies only to discover one terrifying truth: an evil spirit is trying to use her body as a portal to enter the mortal world. Now her friends and she must stop this spirit before the world is destroyed. This is Kali's story…

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Book 1: Journey to Ba Sing Se

Chapter 1

"The Frozen Child"

The setting sun shown over the mountain range, casting long, eerie shadows over the ground as the two men walked up the mountain summit. The air was cold and the slight breeze felt like it was freezing their skin as it touched. The two men were wrapped in cloaks hoping to keep themselves safe from the frigid cold, but to no avail. The older of the two men held a glider-staff in his hand and the other held a plump bundle of blankets that appeared to move every now and then. The two said nothing to each other as they climbed along the path up the mountainside. They kept their faces hidden, more out of the cold than wanting to be seen since any normal person would not be walking to this particular summit. But, then again, what they were doing wasn't a normal task.

They continued along, never saying a word to each other but always knowing what they were doing and where they were headed. As the sun crept lower behind the mountains they finally saw the first glimpse of their goal. In the distance the path they were walking ended in a big drop. To a normal person it would seem like there was nothing there and that the path must have been longer at one point, but to the trained eye all would be just as it should and the point to the sudden drop would be apparent. When the men reached the end of the path they stopped and looked. The drop extended so far down that the ground was not visible to the naked eye. But it wasn't the drop they were interested in but in fact the mountain wall that still continued ahead even though the path disappeared. It was here that, if someone was skilled enough, a person would notice the tall, thin opening in the wall a little after where the path ended.

The two men looked at the opening, then at each other, then back at the opening and started moving as if they had traded silent words during their glance at each other. The man with the staff went first, heading towards the corner where the drop in the path and the mountainside met. He placed his front-side against the wall for support and stuck his left leg over the side of the drop, placing it seconds later within the small opening. He leaned over and tossed his staff into the opening with his left hand. After grabbing the opening with his left he pushed of the path and flung himself into the hole. He picked up his staff upon landing and stuck it out of the opening towards his partner. In response his partner took the small bundle of blankets away from his chest and tied the top of it to the staff. When the bundle was secured, the old man brought the staff back in, careful to make sure that the bundle did not fall off as it started to wiggle slightly. When the bundle was safely inside with the old man, he took it off the staff and wrapped his arms around it, holding it as if it were something precious.

The second man then followed the first into the opening, grabbing onto the hole with his leg and foot and flinging himself in as his partner had done. The older one gave the bundle back to the younger one as soon as he was situated inside the cave and then picked his staff back up. When the two were ready they headed deeper within the cave. Eventually they came to a large room which was almost completely empty. The reason it was almost empty was because, besides the two men, in the center was a small, waist high pedestal sitting on top of a circular platform imbedded in the cave floor. The pedestal had many strange markings written in an unknown language but the most noticeable marking was on the flat top surface of it. It was an odd symbol of two curved triangle, one within the other, on top of a swirl with three spikes.

The two men walked up to the pedestal and for the first time one of them talked.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" the younger of the two asked.

"You heard the prophecy," the older man responded. "It's the only way."

"But, it's just a child."

"That doesn't matter," the older one snapped. "You heard what it said. The girl must not reach her fifteenth birthday."

"But how can we be sure it is really inside her?" the young one asked.

"You were there. You saw the mark appear on her head when that guru, Patik or whatever his name was, tested her. She is the one."

"I just feel wrong about doing this to an innocent child," the younger one said while looking down at the bundle he was holding.

"I don't enjoy it either, but it's the only way to prevent that _thing_ from getting loose."

"I suppose you're right," the younger one sighed. "But how do we even know this will work? It might do nothing at all or maybe even kill her."

"This will work. My ideas always work."

"Well what about the time you wanted us to start a circus?" the younger man asked. "And the time you tried to teach hog-monkeys how to dance. Or what about when you tried to sell lettuce and pretend it was cabbage. And then there is the time you wanted us to star in a play about a twelve year old Avatar who must defeat the Fire Nation from taking over the world in a one hundred year long war. Like anyone would actually believe that."

"I get it!" the older man said. "So not all my ideas turn out right. But I know this will work, it just has to. And you know that play would have been a hit. You're just jealous you didn't think of it yourself."

"Yes, I feel so bad for not being able to come up with horrible play ideas," the younger man said jokingly.

"Just forget it," the older man said. "You remember what to do, right? We need to do it fast enough to prevent her from dying. I have no idea what would happen if she died and I don't want to risk it."

"Don't worry. I remember."

"Good. Then let's get this over with."

The younger one nodded and placed the small bundle on top of the pedestal, making sure to keep it wrapped except for a tiny opening where on can glimpse a mouth. He then headed over to the entrance of the cave, where he started making complex hand and body movements. Overhead a loud rumbling sound echoed through the cave and seconds later a large wall of snow came falling in front the opening in the mountainside. The man then changed his movements, bending the snow from the avalanche that passed in front of the opening into the large room. When he had enough snow he headed back towards the pedestal, swirling the snow above him and turning it into water. The old man the started doing movements too, bending the air around the bundle so that it slowly lifted above the pedestal and floated in the air. The younger man then bended the water around the bundle leaving an air bubble in the center for the bundle and a small opening on the side which allowed the first man to keep bending the air inside and keeping the bundle afloat.

The two men looked at each other to check if the other was ready for what they were about to do.

"Now!" the older one shouted and he suddenly stopped airbending. The second man acted quickly, closing the water around the bundle and freezing it within the second the old man stopped bending. The old man quickly bended the air under the ice ball and lowered it slowly, placing it atop the pedestal. The young man then used what was left of the water to freeze the ice ball in place to the pedestal.

The two men stared at it for a minute before the young one finally spoke. "How do we know she is still alive?" he asked.

"We'll just have to hope for the best," the old man said while turning around. "As long as nothing bad happens it's ok. Thank you for your help."

"You don't need to thank me if it was for the best. Where will you head now? I heard rumors that the Fire Nation is planning an attack on the Air Temples."

"Those are just rumors," responded the older man. "Everything is fine. There is a much larger chance of being invaded by crazed flying rabbit-fish."

"Please don't say stuff like that," the younger man said. "Reminds me of when one of those things attacked me. I still have the scars."

"We should be going anyways. We are expecting the young Avatar to arrive soon and I need to be there for it. We've spent too much time here."

The two men walked out of the cave and back to the path, leaving the bundle of blankets frozen to the pedestal and under the impression that it would never be disturbed. But unknown to them, the bundle would be found eventually, though it wouldn't be until eighty-seven years later.

* * *

The setting sun shown over the mountain range, casting long, eerie shadows over the ground as it had done many days before and will do for many days to come. The mountains had remained relatively unchanged over the years and the only sign of any difference was the erosion caused by the moving snow. But unlike the many days before, the mountains were slightly different tonight. This was because, like that grim day eighty-seven years ago, two people walked up that forgotten path towards the summit. But unlike that day so many years ago these people were not here to leave something but instead to find something.

The two men walked up the path, wrapped in Fire Nation cloaks and fighting against a wind that was as chilling as death. The first man was around average height but rather muscular. He had shoulder length hair tied at the top in a small top-knot. On both sides of his head he had large sideburns running down to his chin. As he walked along the path he had on his face an expression of determination which gave off the feeling that he knew exactly what he was here for. The second man was, in most ways, very similar to the first. The resemblance would make someone easily think that they were brothers. But despite their similarities there were still a few differences between the two. The second was a little taller, with longer arms and a slightly darker skin tone. This man also had no sideburns on his face and instead of being determined as the first man was, he wore and expression of doubt.

"Do you even know where you are going?" the taller one said,

"I know exactly where we are going Ozen," the other one said. "Have I ever led us wrong?"

"Plenty of times Zhao," Ozen answered.

"Name one!"

"There was the time you tried leading us to the army sign ups and we ended up in a woman's bathroom," Ozen said. "I was sore for a week. She hit hard."

"Anyone could have made that mistake."

"And then you led us into town where you ran into a barrel of syrup and covered both of us with it," Ozen continued. "And then of course you had to walk into the booth next to us with the chicken feather merchant and spill the feathers over both of us. We looked like two giant bruised pig-chickens and when we finally got to the sign up guy he laughed at us and said 'Sorry, there is no poultry division.' And I still haven't figured out why that guy was selling chicken feathers."

"Ok I get it!" Zhao yelled at Ozen. "But I won't get us lost this time. I have a map."

"We don't even know if that map is real," Ozen protested.

"Of course it is real," Zhao said. "It was recovered from the Air Temple's library. It wouldn't be kept there if it wasn't real."

"But come on Zhao. What do you expect to even find out here? These mountains are completely abandoned. Not even any animals live here."

"It's explained on the maps," Zhao explained. "They told of an ancient temple hidden within one of the mountains and inside that temple is a great power unlike any you can imagine."

"Why do you even care about this when it probably doesn't even exist?"

"I care because I am sick of being treated as a worthless guard in the army," Zhao snapped at Ozen. "Ever since I joined the army four months ago all they've been having me do is guard colonies no one would even care about enough to attack and escort a caravan of artifacts back to the Fire Nation. The only good that has come out of it is that I found this map inside one of the crates. I remember it like it was yesterday…"

* * *

Zhao stood in the wagon as it was slowly pulled across the ground by komodo-rhinos, shaking and rattling all the way. Surrounding Zhao were high stacks of crates of many sizes, each bearing a large Fire Nation symbol. Upon the floor near Zhao sat a long sheet of paper which appeared to be a list of all the contents of the crates. Zhao did not care for any of this stuff, for his focus was directed at something else. In front of the curtain covered exit to the wagon stood a small cup lying on its side with the opening facing towards Zhao. In Zhao's right hand was a small fruit, a fist sized mango-cherry, and to Zhao all the world currently revolved around him, the cup, and the mango-cherry.

He had only one chance to throw this mango-cherry into the cup. If he happened to miss even the slightest, the mango-cherry would go flying out the rear opening and splatter on one of the soldiers following behind. Zhao raised his hand behind him, making sure to aim perfectly at the cup. As Zhao was just about to swing his arm forward and throw the mango-cherry, the curtain covering the rear opening was pushed away and a man appeared.

"What are you doing Zhao?!" the man yelled. The man wasn't able to get any more words out though, because just as the man had yelled Zhao had released the mango-cherry and instead of landing in the cup it went flying straight at the man. He had no time to react as the mango-cherry went flying into his nose, splattering all over his face and clothes.

"What is going on Zhao?!" the man yelled at Zhao as the pulp dripped off his face. "I did not order you to attack your officer with fruit!"

"I'm sorry sir," Zhao said, both feeling scared but trying not to laugh at the look of his officer covered in fruit pulp. "I was just taking a short break."

"You aren't allowed any breaks!" the officer yelled. "You are supposed to be sorting through these crates making sure we have everything on that list and you are not allowed to stop until you are finished! Is that clear maggot!"

"Yes sir," Zhao said as he saluted his officer.

"This is why you will always be a worthless grunt," the officer said. "You never work or act like you care about this war. When I get back here I want to see all these crates sorted and that list fully checked off!" As the officer turned around to leave he lifted a finger up to his face and wiped some of the juice off, licking the finger afterwards. "Hmm mango-cherry," he said as he walked away. "I love mango-cherry!"

Zhao immediately went back to working, though he did not enjoy it of course. Even while working, he seemed to be too busy mumbling his dislike for his position to notice what he was doing.

"I never work?" he said. "Why would anyone want to do a pointless job like this? I should be out there leading entire armies of troops into the Earth Kingdom taking what rightfully belongs to the Fire Nation. It is fools like him that don't see what I am truly capable of and where I belong. Just like Master Jeong Jeong. Hey, what's this?"

It was just then that Zhao noticed something sitting at the bottom of one of the crates he was sorting through. It was a pile of maps, apparently leading to some unknown and insignificant place. All across it were scribbled words about directions, certain things to do, and so forth. Normally Zhao would have just looked over these maps, but a few words caught his eyes. Scribbled above an arrow pointing down to an unknown mountain range were the words "The Temple of Zelune." Underneath those words was a very simple phrase that Zhao liked immediately: "The Ancient Power."

Did these maps happen to lead to an ancient and strong power source? If Zhao could control this power then he would be able to show all these fools where he rightfully belongs, and that is ruling right beside the Fire Lord. Maybe, just maybe, he could be the new Fire Lord! But if he got this power, Fire Lord would not be a grand enough title for someone like Zhao. He instead would needed to be called something like more grand and important, perhaps "Zhao, the Sun God!"

Zhao realized it would be best not to give up this opportunity and quickly shoved the maps into his bag. Zhao was so caught up in being called "The Sun God" (or some other form of the name) that he did not realize the soldiers would eventually find the missing maps. When the officer realized the maps were missing the caravan had to stop in a nearby town in order to backtrack and find these goods. Even though they had eventually lost most of the airbender artifacts to some ghost or other nonsense that Zhao did not believe in, he was lucky enough to get away with the maps without being blamed.

* * *

"Zhao!" Ozen's voice suddenly intruded into Zhao's thoughts. "Stop daydreaming and let's just go home. I'm freezing."

"We are not leaving until I find out what this power is and make it my own!" Zhao said to his brother as he started to trudge along the path again.

"I doubt you will even gain anything if there actually is something here," Ozen said.

"This could help me more than anything you could think of," Zhao said. "If I gain this power I can help end this war and show the world that fire is the superior element. I will rule alongside the Fire Lord with the entire world in our command. They would call me Zhao the conqueror; Zhao the invincible; Zhao, the Sun God!"

"Here he goes again," Ozen sighed.

"You may think it is foolish but when I gain this power all will learn to fear me."

Ozen just shook his head and the two continued to walk up the path. Although Ozen didn't think this power existed, he did find it rather odd that this path was in such good condition despite being here for so long. He was also amazed at how perfectly it was cut along the mountainside as it had never gotten wider or narrower. They kept continuing in silence, Zhao lost in his thoughts of glory and Ozen thinking about how much of a waste of time this was, until they reached a part in the path where it just ended. It wasn't as if it had fallen off or was broken but just ended, as if it was never built in the first place.

"From the looks of it, we just wasted a week coming out here," Ozen said while looking over the edge. "Why do I ever listen to you with these things?"

"This isn't over yet," Zhao said, more confident than before. "This is exactly the way it should be."

"What are you talking about?" Ozen asked, but Zhao didn't answer. Instead Zhao moved over to the edge of the path and placed himself against the wall. He then stuck his leg and arm out, placing it on something that Ozen couldn't see, and before Ozen could react, Zhao pushed off the ledge and disappeared into the rock.

"What the…Where did you go?" Ozen asked in surprise.

"Inside a cave," Zhao's voice came from the rock. "Now stop wasting time and get in here."

Ozen hesitated for a few seconds but then did what Zhao said.

"If I fall I'm making sure you're coming with me," Ozen said. He followed Zhao's movements and pressed himself against the wall. He stuck his leg out and surprisingly found a hidden floor behind the rock. He then stuck his left hand out and grabbed the upper part of the opening. He hesitated for a few more seconds before pushing off the path and flinging his body into the opening.

He landed on the cold rock floor and tried to calm down a bit from what he had just done. After a minute or two he stood up and looked around. He appeared to be inside a small tunnel which opened up into some sort of room. Zhao stood next to Ozen, waiting till Ozen was ready, and when Ozen nodded they both headed into the room.

It was very large and circular, with a very dim light showing from an unknown source. What surprised the two the most was not the size of the room or the phantom light, but the fact that it was completely empty save for a waist high pedestal in the center which appeared to have a small ice ball attached to the top. The two walked over, not sure what to make of the strange pedestal and the attached ice. As they got closer Ozen noticed something inside the ice which appeared to be a bundle of blankets wrapped around something.

Zhao got there first, and as soon as he could he pulled out his maps and started examining the pedestal. Ozen on the other hand was more interested in the strange frozen blankets on top of the pedestal.

"What is this?" Zhao yelled. "There's nothing here other then this stupid pedestal. The map says there should be a huge temple right here!"

But Ozen wasn't paying attention to Zhao's words. He was still examining the frozen blankets, trying to figure out what they were doing there and even how they got frozen so perfectly. He circled around the pedestal until he suddenly noticed a small opening at the top of the blankets, through which he could see two tiny, frozen lips.

"There's a child frozen in there!" Ozen said, shocked.

"There has to be something hidden here," Zhao said, still examining the pedestal and ignoring what Ozen said. He rubbed his hands over the surface of the pedestal, trying to find anything that might be useful, when a small octagonal coin fell out and into his hand. He looked at it and noticed it was completely bare except for a strange symbol on one side.

"I can't believe this," he said while getting up. "This was a complete waste of time!" He then kicked the pedestal out of his anger and spent the next minute hopping up and down one foot in agony. "Hopefully whatever this stupid thing is might make it so this trip was worth it," Zhao said while looking at the coin. "Let's get out of here. We've wasted too much time in this stupid place."

"But what about the child?" Ozen asked. "We can't just leave it here."

"That thing is probably long dead," Zhao said. "It's probably been here for years."

"But it could still be alive," Ozen said. "We have to find out."

"Well if you want to waste your time thawing the thing out then go ahead," Zhao said as he turned towards the door. "I'm getting out of this dump. Just hurry or I'm leaving you behind."

Zhao took one last look at the coin in his hand, still unsure of what the point of it was or what the strange symbol upon it could mean. He decided he was too cold to worry about it and shoved the coin in his pocket. As Zhao placed the coin within his pocket the symbol upon it gave off a faint purple glow, but both Zhao and Ozen were too busy to notice. While Ozen was busy trying to figure out how to thaw the child, Zhao headed back outside, too angry about not finding anything to care about some nameless kid.

Chapter 1 End

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So yea, that was the first chapter. Hope you liked. :D Chapter 2 will be up in a sec. Want to release them both together. I had fun doing the mango-cherry scene. I'm glad I added that in since it wasn't in the original version.

Now the mumbo jumbo that I will put at the end every time and everyone will ignore (including me :P ):

The Avatar and characters universe is the property of Mike, Brian, and Nickelodeon. All characters and stories which do not exist in the show are entirely my creation.


	2. The Orphan

And here is chapter 2. Just finished editing it today in time for my account to be permitted to submit stories. :D Enjoy

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Book 1: Journey to Ba Sing Se

Chapter 2

"The Orphan"

The wind softly blew the grass as the running water from the nearby river echoed over the field. The two men stood opposite of each other focusing intently on one another. Neither made any sounds and almost no movement at all as all they seemed to care about was what the other was doing and was going to do. Suddenly and swiftly one of them moved.

The man stomped hard on the ground and a large boulder shot up in front of him. The man quickly spun around, shooting his leg out behind him into the boulder and causing it to go flying straight towards the other man. The second man responded fast as he brought up water from the nearby river to knock the boulder away, swirling it around his body, and then sending a powerful stream straight towards the earthbender. The earthbender instantly brought up a wall of rock from the ground which fully protected him from the water and counterattacked by kicking this wall straight towards the waterbender.

The waterbender in turn pulled more water from the river, using it to propel him to the side and away from the oncoming attack. He quickly jumped off this manmade wave and shot it straight towards his opponent, freezing the water into hundreds of small ice shards at it flew through the air. The earthbender quickly bent down, bringing up countless rocks from the earth surrounding him and covering his body in full stone armor. The armor was easily able to repel the ice shards, and as soon as the attack had finished the earthbender started charging towards the waterbender, bending the rocks surrounding him in order to increase his speed.

As soon as the two were about to collide, a large ball of fire shot down on them and they were just barely able to avoid it. The firebender who had attacked them jumped down from a nearby rock preparing for another attack. Before any of them could move though a large gust of wind blew through the field as an airbender landed beside them all. The four stood there, staring at one another and preparing to defend against whoever attacked first.

Suddenly all four of the benders rushed towards each other but none of them were able to get off a single attack as the unexpected happened. As the airbender rushed in, the earth suddenly shot up beneath him and sent him flying through the air. The earthbender had no time at all to react as a large gust of wind blew straight into him and sent him flying across the field. The waterbender was just as unlucky as the others as a large fireball shot down and evaporated all his water, knocking him down in the process. And finally an unknown wave of water shot at the firebender and completely encased her within ice before she had the chance to react.

The four benders looked around trying to find the person who had bested them when they noticed a lone figure standing atop a nearby cliff. Within seconds this figure had jumped down from the tall cliff and landed perfectly beside them, revealing her to be none other than Kali, the powerful and noble Avatar. Kali was not the kind of person who enjoyed senseless fighting but when she saw these four bender battling she just had to step in and show who was the real master.

As she helped the unknown strangers back onto their feet, the firebender walked over to her apparently having something to say.

"What are you doing Kali?!" the firebender yelled at her, completely shocking her. "You're supposed to be working, not daydreaming! Kali?!"

* * *

"Kali? Kali?! What are you doing? You're letting the paint dry!"

"What?" Kali moved her eyes down to her brush and noticed it was getting hard and sticky. "Oh, sorry ma'am. I got distracted. Won't let it happen again."

"It better not happen again," said the woman. "I'm tired of you getting lost in your daydreams and messing things up."

"I'm sorry ma'am," Kali apologized again. "I'll get back to work."

"See to it that you do or you'll be getting leftovers for dinner tonight," said the woman and she walked away.

"The time that she doesn't give me leftovers is when I'll be surprised," Kali said once the woman had left. "Why do I even have to do this? They should be hiring people to do this kind of stuff." She looked down at her brush again with the still drying paint and tossed it aside.

"Forget this," she said as she stood up. "I'm not their slave. If they want this done they can hire someone that is supposed to do it." At one time Kali would have been nervous about doing such an act, but after being treated like this for years it was quite common of her to disobey her so called "orders." She walked along the side of the building looking for her window because she always left it unlocked expecting for such an event to happen. Luckily for her it wasn't too far from where she had been painting, and when she reached it she silently lifted up the window and hopped in.

It wasn't a very fancy room, with a cot against one wall, an old rickety dresser for her clothes, and a mirror attached to the inside of her door. It was also rather small, as were all the children's rooms, but luckily for her she had this one all to herself. Anyone who saw this room and how the staff treated the place would feel sorry for her, but she was used to it, even if she still didn't like it.

She had lived at this small orphanage in the Fire Nation for most of her life. She was told that she was left here years ago by an unknown man who said he found her. They had tried to trace her back to her family but even the person who brought her in mysteriously disappeared, making the task so hard it was almost pointless. She wished she could say this was the worst place she had ever lived, but it was still the only place she had ever lived and had to deal with it. Well that is to say this is the only place she could remember living at.

Most of the staff did not take very good care of the orphanage and only kept the children just happy enough to pass inspection and be able to stay open. There were a few nice people, but most of them didn't care about the kids and were here because it was the only place they could find a job. Even the woman who ran the orphanage called all the children the "rejects" which "no one cared about." Kali did not like it, but she had no choice but to put up with it. The best she could do was pull pranks on the staff with her best friend but those were just meaningless jokes which would at most annoy them. It was never enough to change how this place was run, and even sometimes only made things worse.

Kali snapped out of her thoughts again and remembered what she was doing. She was originally going to take a nap, but then remembered what she had just came from and realized she was probably filthy. She walked over to her mirror and looked at her reflection to get a good idea of how dirty she had gotten from having to paint the building.

She was around an average height for her age of fourteen years. She had what one of the nicer nurses had called "a natural beauty," with rather smooth skin and an attractive face. Her hair was long, smooth, and brown, reaching almost halfway down her back. She almost always kept her hair loose, but after having to tie it back into a ponytail a few weeks ago for a "chore" she was given she decided she rather liked the look and from then on had used a small blue band to tie her hair back at the neck. The most stunning part of her was her sky blue eyes, so light that they almost appeared grey. This was probably one of the characteristics about her that made her wonder the most about where she had come from. Everyone in the Fire Nation always had yellow eyes, no matter what the shade. She was the only person anyone nearby knew that had light blue eyes, and some even found it weird.

She wouldn't consider herself beautiful, but she would at least say she was good looking. Many of the other girls agreed with her, but she both hated and liked her unique looks. Because of her looks many of the boys around the orphanage were constantly flirting with her. She wouldn't have considered this too bad if many of them weren't what she considered repulsive, and they only reinforced these thoughts by making it quite clear that it wasn't her face they were staring at while talking to her. Some of them had even had the nerve to ask her to spend the night in their room and she would almost slap the boy but didn't only under the fear of what the staff would do to her if she harmed someone else.

She examined her body up and down in the mirror, looking at all the dried paint and dirt splotches on her clothes and skin. She hadn't quite noticed it before but now the dried paint was making her skin a bit itchy. Unfortunately, since the paint had already dried the only way to get it off would be by taking a bath. That wouldn't be such a bad thing, she would even enjoy it, but the problem was that the bath house had closed an hour earlier. If she got caught in there they would actually be able to punish her since for once she would be caught breaking one of the real rules of this dump.

She lay down on her cot and tried to take a nap, but the more she lay there the worse the itching got. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and got up.

"I don't care if I might get caught," she said to herself. "I'm not going to spend all night like this. And anyways, if they're going to force me to paint the building they should at least allow me to take a bath after."She knew she was kind of stretching the truth here since she didn't actually finish but she didn't care.

She quickly headed towards the window and, after checking that no one was there, climbed out and headed towards the bath house. Luckily for her she didn't encounter anyone along the way. Even better was the fact that no one had noticed her disappearance from painting the wall. For once the staff's lack of caring for the kids had actually helped her. When she reached the bath house she quietly slipped in and locked the door behind her. The bath house was one of the larger buildings and it was split into four sections. There were the children's sections, which were split into boys and girls, and there were the staff sections, which were also separated accordingly.

The child tubs were poorly taken care of, with the metal on the bowel rusting and the water only capable of reaching room temperature. Looking at the old tubs she thought that since she would be hiding her traces once she finished, it wouldn't hurt to go and use the staff tubs, as they were more comfortable and well taken care off. She went through one of the doors on the right and locked it after she had entered. That staff baths were a lot better, with the tubs recently polished and the wood containers nice and finished. She walked around the room, examining the cabinets and closets. Inside one of the closets she found a pile of rather soft cotton robes.

"They can make something this fancy but they can't hire someone to paint the house?" she said to herself and sighed. She grabbed one of the robes that looked her size out of the closet and headed over to one of the tubs. As she played around with the knobs on the tub she noticed that the water warmed rather quickly.

"Now I know where all the money for this place goes," she said. When the tub was full and the water was the right temperature, she turned off the knobs and made one last check to make sure she was completely alone. Once she was sure everything was safe she took off her clothes and placed them on the floor next to the tub.

As soon as she got into the water she was grateful for coming here. It had been so long since she last had a hot bath that she had forgotten how good it felt, and she decided to just lay there with her head rested on the back of the tub, enjoying every second of it. After a few minutes of soaking she started to feel something wet wrapped around her wrist. She opened her eyes and looked down to notice that she forgot to take off her bracelet. She raised her hand to her face and started examining it, like she had done so many times before.

On the part situated towards the top of her wrist her name, Kali, and her birth date were written. Well, in truth only the month and day was written for the birth date, but the orphanage was able to piece together that she was almost one year old by the time she arrived. On the bottom of the bracelet was a strange symbol that, throughout her entire time there, no one was able to understand. It was composed of two triangles, one inside the other, and whose edges were curved inward. These two triangles were situated on top of three curved spikes which were swirling outward from the center.

Whenever she looked at her bracelet it made her question where she was from and how she got to the orphanage. She had only a few memories of her life before the orphanage and she could hardly understand what any of them meant, but they were still the only memories she had and thus one of her most valuable things. She rested her head on the back of the tub and tried again to remember as much as she could.

The first one she could remember was what she thought to be the earliest memory she had. She was lying on a soft blanket looking up at the sky. There were many things flying around up there, but they didn't appear to be birds, more like humans. She would then hear a voice yell from the side and turn her head to see a strange woman walking towards her. She had assumed this to be her mother, but because the figure was so blurry she couldn't make out the face. Unfortunately, the memory always ended just before the woman came into view, and Kali really hated that.

The second memory took place in the same place as the first, except it was night and there were people standing all around her. An ageing man with a newly grown beard stood over Kali. He held a small purple crystal that, when passed over her, gave off a bright glow. As soon as it glowed all the people around her started whispering and someone came over to pick her up.

The third and final memory was the strangest. She was completely wrapped in blankets and unable to see where she was but she could still feel a frigid cold through the opening where her mouth stuck out. For almost the entire time she could feel herself being held very tightly by someone, until near the end were she was placed on some sort of stone. For some strange reason she didn't understand, she suddenly would start floating in the air and would stay there for a minute or two. Out of nowhere she would suddenly hear someone yell "now" and a cold, so chilling it felt like it was killing her, overcame her body. And then all was black.

Kali lay within the tub letting the warm water wash over her and enjoying the memories of her past. She enjoyed hearing the soft sound of the water as it splashed against the tub. As she listened, the water slowly got louder and louder. As the sound rose, it also started to come at regular intervals until it eventually sounded like actual waves. Soon enough Kali could not take it anymore, and just had to open her eyes to see where the source of the noise was. When she did open her eyes, what she saw stunned her.

The entire bath house had completely disappeared without a trace. In fact, she appeared to be in a completely different part of the world. To her right was a massive forest with crooked trees bending up every which way into the sunlight. The trees were unlike any other Kali had seen before, and many of them even appeared as if they could move, ready to jump out and grab her if she walked near.

To Kali's left was a large cliff stretching back and forth as far as she could see. As she peered down over the cliff all she could see was a thick white fog appearing to stretch endlessly out into the distance. The sounds of crashing waves drifted up from the cliff, both soft and loud, and this gave Kali the impression that there must be some sort of vast ocean beneath the fog or at least some sort of river. As Kali stood up to get a better look at her surroundings she was surprised yet again by what she was wearing

Although she had been naked in a tub only a minute earlier she was now fully clothed and completely dry. Her clothes were not her normal clothes either but ones she had never even seen in real life before. She appeared to be wearing robes colored in different shades of pale yellow and maroon. She had only seen clothes as such once before, and that was in a drawing illustrating what the female airbending master monks used to wear. Around her neck as a necklace was a small octagonal coin with a strange symbol on it matching perfectly with the symbol on her bracelet.

"What's going on?" she said to herself as she looked around. "Where am I?" Kali wasn't expecting any type of response to this question, so when one came she was caught completely off guard. As soon as she had finished talking a short laugh, sounding almost from a child, echoed from behind her. She quickly spun around to find the source of the laugh, but nothing at all was behind her.

"Who's there?" she asked, but no response came. She eventually came to the conclusion that it must have been her imagination, but as she started to walk along the edge of the cliff she heard the laugh again from behind her, just as before. She turned around as soon as she heard it, but there was still nothing there.

"What's going on?" she shouted. "Is there someone there?" But no answer came, just as before. She was getting quite nervous as she looked around trying to uncover where the laugh had originated. She had never heard of anything like this happening before, especially to her, and she had no idea how to react. Minutes passed but no indication of anyone being present other than her came. She eventually decided that whoever had laughed had probably left and as she turned around towards the forest again she was so surprised by what she saw she fell backwards landing just a hair away from the cliff.

Before Kali stood a tree, but it was unlike any tree she had ever seen or heard of. It stood about as high as Kali's neck but it didn't look very young. On top of the short trunk was a bush of leaves and small branches, almost acting like the tree's head. Only two berries existed on the whole bush and were situated in a way that they appeared to be eyes. Two large branches stuck out from opposite side on the trunk, curved upwards in a way to almost look like arms.

Kali slowly got up, investigating the tree as she did. She wasn't sure what this tree was here for, but she knew it had to be something important for it wasn't here only a minute earlier. As she investigated she slowly reached out her hand to grab one of the berries. As she was just about to grab it however one of the branches suddenly shot over and grabbed her wrist. Kali immediately jumped and almost fell over again but the tree held her up. She watched as the bottom half of the trunk split into three parts, resembling two legs with feet attached and a tail. Immediately Kali realized what this tree resembled, and it wasn't a tree at all. This tree, or whatever it was, was shaped to resemble a rather large type of monkey. Kali quickly yanked her hand away and backed up, unsure of what to make of the situation.

"What are you?" she asked, but realized all too late that she would probably not get a response. To her surprise the tree did answer.

"Tree-monkey," it said in a rather high pitched voice. Kali was so taken aback by this that she had no way to respond. She stared at this…tree-monkey for a few minutes before finally speaking again.

"Where am I?" she asked. There was a short pause before the tree-monkey spoke again though, appearing as if it was trying to understand what she had asked.

"Everywhere," it said. "Nowhere…somewhere?" Kali was getting more and more confused with every question she asked. This thing had to know something about this place, or else why would it have come to her?

"What's going on?" she asked. The tree-monkey only stared at her in response to this. Kali was beginning to think this was a big waste of time and just as she was about to leave the tree-monkey answered.

"You must prepare," it said.

"Prepare for what?" she asked. The tree-monkey grabbed her shoulders and slowly leaned towards her face in response to this.

"Him," it said. "It is him. He is coming. You must prepare."

"Who is 'he'?" Kali asked. "What's going on?"

"What once was his is now yours," it said. "What creates him is what destroys him. Prepare yourself new Soul Keeper. The journey has just begun." As soon as the tree-monkey had finished talking he jumped up and kicked Kali in the chest with both feet. Before she could react, Kali was pushed over the edge of the cliff. As she fell towards the white fog below she watched the tree-monkey speak again, but she was unable to understand.

* * *

"Kali? Kali?!"

Kali started to shift around a bit. She wasn't quite sure where she was or what she was doing but the last thing she could remember was being shoved off a cliff and thinking she was going to die.

"Kali?! Where are you?! This wall should have been finished an hour ago!"

Kali's eyes suddenly snapped open. She looked outside to see that it was dusk going into night.

"Oh no, I feel asleep," she said and quickly got out of the tub. She immediately pushed that weird dream to the back of her head too worried about what would happen if she was caught to care about it now. She grabbed one of the nearby towels and quickly dried her body off, but when she went to put on her clothes she realized that she forgot to bring a clean pair with her. Instead of putting her old clothes back on and dirtying herself again, she grabbed the robe she had pulled out of the closet and flung it onto her body. After the straps were tied she grabbed her dirty clothes and snuck out the side door.

Fortunately for her there was no one near the bath house and it had gotten rather dark, making it hard for someone to spot her. She hid her clothes in one of the nearby bushes, deciding it would be best to come back for them later, and snuck towards the main building. She easily got to her window unnoticed but, to her horror, saw that someone had locked it and prevented her from climbing in. She thought it would be best to hide somewhere for a little while since they appeared to be expecting her to try to sneak back to her room.

She quickly and quietly made her way over to one of the side buildings, the cafeteria, knowing it would probably be empty by now. But, unlike what she thought, it was still rather full of kids when she got there. Not wanting to have to risk going back in the open again, she instead snuck through one of the doors on the side. When she got inside she noticed she was in a rather small room, with many shelves aligning the walls. About half of the selves had food on them, and she realized that she must be in the pantry. Also, after a few seconds, she realized that she wasn't alone in there.

On the other side of the room there was a rather large boy stooped over a few open and half empty containers. Kali recognized this kid but didn't bother to learn his name. She remembered that he got in trouble once before for stealing food from the cafeteria a few times and apparently he still hadn't learned. Luckily for her the boy hadn't notice her enter, and if she could sneak out as quietly as she entered, he would never know she was there. She started to back up, reaching her hand for the doorknob, but the floor under her creaked a little.

As soon as the floor creaked the boy stopped eating and turned around. When he saw Kali he laughed through the food in his mouth, apparently finding it rather funny she was in the pantry in a cotton robe.

"Nice outfit," he said while chuckling a bit. "But the food is mine. Back off."

"Don't worry," Kali said. "I'd rather not take your place as the fattest kid here." She knew as soon as she had said that that it was a mistake. The boy got up off the floor after shoving the last of the food in his face and started walking towards her.

"Hey, I'm not fat," he said as he clenched his fists. "I'm just big boned. You're gonna have to pay for saying stuff like that."

"I'd rather not," Kali said as she started to pull open the door, but the kid stuck out his hand and shut it before Kali could slip out.

"I don't care if you like it or not," he said as he raised his fist. "You're gonna pay." He quickly swung his fist down at Kali, but she ducked and was able to avoid it. He brought his other fist down towards Kali but she avoided it just as easily as the first.

"Stay still so I can hurt you!" the boy said as he tried to hit Kali again. The boy kept aiming hit after hit towards Kali but she dodged every one. In fact, Kali was avoiding these attacks with such ease and speed that it started to scare her. She had never been able to move this fast before, and haven't even seen anyone else move this fast. She was so caught up in her confusion that she did not notice as one of the boy's fists came straight towards her and had no way to react as a result.

And then it happened. Even though she had never done such a thing before, it came to her like she had known how to do it all along. She flung her hands out at the boy and out of nowhere came a strong gust of wind. The gust was so powerful that it flung the boy away from her and through the door on the opposite side of the room. Moments later the boy landed on one of tables and the whole room went silent from the crash.

She wanted to get away, to flee before anyone had noticed, but she knew it was too late. As soon as the boy landed all the staff ran towards the room to find out who had done it. When they got there they saw Kali, wearing one of the staff robes and apparently having just thrown a boy more than twice her size through a door and halfway across the room.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" said one of the woman who had walked over. The person was none other than the Headmistress, the woman who ran the entire orphanage. She was an old woman with a long crooked nose and a hoarse voice. Due to her looks and the sound of her voice most of the kids and even some of the staff called her the Headcrowture due to her disturbing resemblance to a crowture, plus the fact that she had a rather fondness of them. Although she wasn't a teacher and the orphanage was hardly considered a school she still preferred to be called the Headmistress because it made her feel important.

"I've been wondering where you ran off to," the Headmistress said in her hoarse voice. "Been in the staff baths, haven't you? And beating up other kids? We're going to have to give you quite a good punishment for this." She turned towards two men standing next to her. "Take the girl to my office. I would like to have a talk with her. And inform the major. I think he might find this rather interesting."

* * *

The Headmistress's office was not considered one of the best rooms in the orphanage. In fact, everyone but the Headmistress herself hated the way she decorated and tried their best to steer clear of the room. Despite the large windows decorating the walls the room was rather gloomy due to how she always kept countless layers of curtains covering the windows. A large desk stood in the center of the room with the Headmistress's enormous chair on one side and small chair facing the opposite for her victims.

What took up most of the space within the room was not the desk or chairs but the countless statues of crowtures which lined the walls. The Headmistress was rather fond of crowtures. With their long body structure, black feathers, and intimidating face the Head mistress found crowtures to be an excellent way to frighten the kids, even if they frightened some of the staff too. Kali sat in the small chair in front of the desk right now as the Headmistress sat across from her staring her down. To the right of the Headmistress stood Major Lee, a Fire Nation soldier with a muscular body and a long a mustache. He usually stopped by from time to time on certain orders but none of the kids could figure out what those orders were.

"What are we going to do with you?" the Headmistress said as she stared at Kali. "You have quite a list today Kali. Refusing to do your chores, sneaking into the staff bath house, beating up another kid, AND letting the paint dry on the brush? Those are quite some offenses. Just what are we going to do with you?"

"Um, forget about it and let me go?" Kali said with a fake smile, hoping to cheer things up a bit. She should have known immediately that it wouldn't work.

"I think not!" the Headmistress yelled as she slammed the ruler in her hand on the desk. "You won't get off that easy."

"I suggest having her run—" Major Lee started to say but the Headmistress interrupted him.

"Did I say you could speak?!" she yelled at the major then turned her attention back towards Kali. "I suppose we could…lessen your punishment if you would explain a few things to us."

"Like what?" Kali asked, nervous at where this was going.

"It is very unlikely that a girl like you could throw such a large boy through a door and halfway across the room," the Headmistress said. "I doubt even the Major could pick that slob up."

"Hey, I've been working out," Major Lee said in protest.

"Don't interrupt me you fool!" the Headmistress shouted as she slammed the ruler again.

"Hey, I am a Major in the army," Major Lee told the Headmistress. "I do not have to take orders from the likes of you!"

"Is that so?!" the Headmistress shouted as she stood up, towering over Major Lee. "As long as you are under my roof you follow my orders! If you don't then I'll hit you harder than any of your commanding officers would ever dare to! Is that clear Major Lee?!"

"Yes ma'am!" Major Lee said, feeling rather grateful that this woman was not one of his commanding officers.

"Now, where was I?" the Headmistress said as she turned her attention back towards Kali. "Oh yes, how exactly did you manage to throw a boy over twice your size through a door and across the room?"

"I don't really know," Kali said. "Maybe it was the wind?"

"So you admit you airbended?" Major Lee suddenly said.

"That I what?" Kali asked, completely taken aback by this question.

"I did not say you could talk!" the Headmistress shouted as she hit the major in the head with her ruler.

"I think you should listen to the Headcrowture, Major Lee," Kali said as she chuckled a bit, but as soon as she realized what she had said all her joy faded.

"What did you call me?!" the Headmistress shouted.

"Headcrowture?" Major Lee said while laughing. "That's a good one."

"Enough!" the Headmistress shouted as she hit Major Lee in the head again and turned towards two men standing near the door. "Bring her back to her room!"

The two men immediately stopped laughing and nodded in response. They each grabbed one of Kali's arms and forced her to walk with them back to her room. When they were gone, the Headmistress turned back to Major Lee, who was still rubbing his head.

"Put some of your soldiers outside her room," she ordered. "I don't want her going anywhere. Report back to general Ozen and tell him to come as soon as he can. Tell him we have some interesting information for him."

"Yes ma'am," Major Lee said quickly not wishing to anger her again and quickly rushed out of the room.

Chapter 2 End

* * *

Hope you liked it. I for one had fun adding the scenes which were not in the original version. The fight at the beginning, the cliff scene, and the office scene all did not exist at first. Loved having the headmistress beat the guy up. XD

The story is starting to unfold now so stay tuned and enjoy. Third one should be up either tomorrow and the next day after I add the new scenes.

The mumbo jumbo time!

The Avatar and characters universe is the property of Mike, Brian, and Nickelodeon. All characters and stories which do not exist in the show are entirely my creation.


	3. The Escape

And here is chapter 3. I more than doubled what I had in the original version. It used to be like 4 pages and now it's 11. Still doesn't beat my record though for one of the later chapters. :P

And as another note, PLEASE respond after reading. I want to know how I am doing and if this is being read (thank you for the first response. :D )

* * *

Book 1: Journey to Ba Sing Se

Chapter 3

"The Escape"

Kali lay in bed as she had been for hours and stared at the ceiling. Her mind had been racing all night, and she had been unable to sleep at all because of it. She still had no idea how it had happened, but when it did it felt so natural, so right, like she had known how to do it the entire time. At first she had no idea what "it" could have been, but after hearing what Major Lee had asked her she just couldn't get the idea out of her head.

"But how can I be an airbender?" she asked herself after an hour or two. "They're supposed to all be dead. This doesn't make any sense." Even if it didn't make any logical sense for her to be one, it still was the only way she would have been capable of manipulating the air as she did.

She laid there, thinking and wondering. Her mind wandered from one thing the next, and just as she started to wonder what the Fire Nation would do to her if she was an airbender, she heard a small knock come from somewhere in the room. She quickly turned her head towards where the knock had come from and immediately knew what it was. Quickly but silently she slid off the bed and headed over to her old dresser. To be sure that what she heard was real she made three light knocks on the wall next to the dresser and waited. A few seconds later someone returned the knocks and Kali instantly knew what to do.

She shifted her body and, ever so carefully so she wouldn't be heard, starting pushing the dresser to the side. The effort in this was not trying to move the dresser, but to move it without making a noise. It made a soft scraping noise on the floor as she pushed it, but luckily for her no one else heard it. As the dresser was moved to the side a large hole slowly became visible in the wall. When the hole was fully visible, Kali stopped pushing the dresser and turned to look at it.

The hole was just large enough for Kali to be able to slip through. She had made it years ago with her friend so that they had a way to talk during the night and a way to sneak out if they were ever in trouble. Over the years they would grow larger, and had to keep kicking out the sides of the hole to make it large enough for them to still use. As Kali stared at the hole, a female head popped through it.

"So how's prison life?" the girl joked.

"It's really boring," Kali answered.

"So is freedom, but in this place there isn't much difference," the girl joked again.

"So how many people know, Azuki?" Kali asked her friend.

"Everyone," Azuki answered. "They're all talking about you. What you did was amazing."

"How much do they know about it?" Kali asked nervously.

"Well, we know that creep tried to attack you and you somehow threw him through the door and across the room. That's about it."

Kali let off a sigh of relief. "Do they have any idea how I did it?" she asked.

"Nope," Azuki answered. "The boy is in the nurse's office so no one's been able to talk to him. What did you do?"

"Well, the thing is, I don't know…"

"What?" Azuki asked in surprised. "How could you do it if you didn't even know what it was?"

"I don't know," answered Kali. "It just sort of came to me"

"What came to you?"

Kali sighed again. "Ok, I know this may sound crazy, but I think…I think I airbended."

Azuki stared at Kali in response to this. "Are you sure that boy didn't do anything to you?" she asked.

"I'm being serious here," said Kali. "When he was trying to hit me I moved my hands and legs in a certain way and the air just moved around me and hit him. Even before that I was moving away from his punches faster than I've ever seen anyone move. I know it sounds crazy but it's the only thing that fits. Even Major Lee thought I airbended."

"Well, that would explain why they called over those soldiers," Azuki said.

"What soldiers?" Kali asked, suddenly alarmed.

"Didn't you hear? The Headmistress called the base and they sent over a few soldiers."

"Oh no," said Kali, shocked by this news. "What am I going to do?"

"I think there's only one thing you can do," said Azuki. "You need to get out of here as fast as you can."

"What?" Kali asked. "How would I do that? I have nowhere to go."

"You could find someone to teach you airbending."

"But who? In case you didn't know, there aren't any more Air Nomads."

"Maybe the Avatar can," Azuki suggested. "I heard he defeated an invasion at the North Pole a week or so ago and is going to the Earth Kingdom. You could go there and find him."

"I could…" Kali said, thinking about it. "But he could be heading anywhere in the Earth Kingdom. I have no idea where to start looking."

"I guess you're right…" Azuki said. The two started thinking again and after a few minutes Azuki broke the silence. "You could go to Ba Sing Se!" she said.

"Why would I go to Ba Sing Se?" Kali asked.

"I've heard they have a huge library there, one of the largest in the world," Azuki explained. "And hundreds of scholars. They have to have something there on airbending."

"That does make sense… But how would I get out of here? I can't just walk across the sea to Ba Sing Se."

"Actually, I think I might already have an answer to that," Azuki said, and she hurried over to her dresser. She returned a minute later with a brown pouch in her hand which gave off a sound similar to many small coins hitting each other. "I snuck into the Headmistress's office earlier today and took this. It's some of the money that should go to the orphanage but she's keeping for herself. I was planning on leaving it in one of the jerk's rooms to frame them but I think you need it more."

"Thanks Azuki," said Kali, and she hugged Azuki, taking the bag right after. "Now we just need to figure out how I'm going to get out of here without those guards catching me."

"Don't look at me. I've been trying to figure that one out all night."

Kali sat there thinking hard. There had to be some way to outsmart them and allow her to escape, but what? Suddenly, it came to her. "Hey Azuki, do you still have all that fruit we took from the cafeteria earlier this week?" Kali asked.

"Uh yea. Why?" Azuki asked.

"Go get them and grab your cloak. I have an idea."

* * *

The two soldiers stood in the night outside the girl's window, just as they had all night and just as they would be until morning came. One of them was a rather muscular man with a mustache, and the other tall but skinny. It had been a rather boring night so far, and nothing had really happened save for a few strange noises and some creaks a little earlier.

As the two stared off into the distance, the taller one suddenly turned to the muscular one. "Hey, have you ever wondered why we're here?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" the muscular soldier asked. "We're here to guard the girl!"

"No, I don't mean that," the tall one continued. "I mean, why are we here? Why do we exist? Why does any of this exist?"

The muscular one stared at the other. "Just go back to guarding," he said.

"You can't tell me you've never thought about it," the tall soldier said. "I've had some strange idea that we might all be figments of someone's imagination in a made up world mainly created to entertain people."

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," the muscular soldier said after a moment of silence.

"Why do you have to be this way? I just want to talk."

"You're not paid to talk," the muscular one said, getting more annoyed each second. "Now just shut up and guard."

"Why don't you ever open yourself up to me?" the tall one asked. "I just want to be friends!"

"Oh now what are you going to do? Going to start crying?"

"Hey loudmouths!" a female voice suddenly said.

"Now what?" the muscular one said as he turned around, but before he could do anything he suddenly felt something large smash against his face and felt juice splatter everywhere. Before the two guards could react, they were suddenly and quickly pelted with fruit, until the juices covered their entire bodies.

"We're under attack!" the muscular one said. "Defend yourself!" The man wiped the juices off his face and saw two figures in black cloaks throwing the last of the fruit. The soldier tried to run to the two people but, because of the amount of juices on his body, slipped on the ground and fell flat on his face. The taller soldier tried to run at the figures as well, but also slipped and fell on top of the other.

When the two people had thrown all their fruit, they turned around and bolted into the town away from the soldiers. The two soldiers got up as fast as they could, slipping and falling a few times in the process, and ran into the town after the people. Initially, the soldiers thought they had lost their attackers, but just then the taller one noticed the two dark figures running down the street towards the docks.

"There they are!" he shouted, and the two soldiers ran down the street after the cloaked people. Unfortunately, by the time the soldiers got to where the figures had stood they had already disappeared into the dark. As the two looked around to find the mystery people, the muscular soldier noticed a small flap of cloak slip behind a hole in a nearby fence.

Without hesitating, the soldier ran to the fence and proceeded to slip through. Unfortunately, due to his large size, he got himself caught halfway through. Try as he might, he could not break free due to the fence being made of metal.

"It's no use," the soldier said. "I'm stuck."

"Maybe now you will have time to think about why we are here," the other soldier said.

"Just shut up and get me out."

* * *

The two cloaked figures hurried along the docks. Many of the ships were gone but a few were left tied up. The two people continued along until they came across what appeared to be the main building. Kali pulled down her hood and turned to face Azuki.

"Thanks for everything, Azuki," she said.

"Don't worry about it," Azuki said in response. "Now go and learn some airbending. Then you can come back and beat the headmistress's butt."

Kali let out a little chuckle to this. "Don't worry, I'll be back," she said, and hugged Azuki. "I'll help you and the others once I learn how to bend."

"You better come back," Azuki said after returning the hug. "I want all that money paid back when you're done with it."

"Don't worry," she said while laughing. "You'll get it one day."

"It better be before I die," Azuki joked while walking away. "And good luck!"

"Thanks!" Kali shouted as she walked into the building in search of the boat schedule.

* * *

The orphanage had never seen so many visits from the army before, especially in such a short time. With all the recent commotion involving the girl and ending with multiple soldiers guarding the area one would think that they held a very dangerous criminal. All of the children and even some of the staff were confused as to what was going on and that day's special visitor only made things more confusing. Despite the fact that the girl had escaped the previous night, many of the soldiers still kept up the act as they were too afraid of what their general would do if he found out the girl had escaped.

The visitor had arrived early in the morning and wasted no time to find out what exactly had happened the past day and why it was so important to reveal to the girl that she was being watched. General Ozen was a rather impressive looking man. He walked down the hall in a strong stance as if he was in control of everything he saw. He was quite tall, one of the tallest men in town, and was fit and strong to match his height. He had long black hair tied up on his head in a topknot and had the usual Fire Nation amber colored eyes. Every time he left his house he would wear his uniform to pronounce his authority to all around him.

General Ozen was flanked by two soldiers on both sides, and to his right walked Major Lee who ironically was his second in command, despite only being a major. This group of men was rather intimidating as they walked down the hallways and all who stood in their way quickly moved aside. One person didn't move aside though, and that was because she was the Headmistress and the one the general had come to see.

"General Ozen," the Headmistress said as she walked up to him with open arms. "It is so good to see you again. I assume you feel the same about me?"

"Well…of course Headmistress," Ozen said, not wishing to upset her. "I've been…looking forward to seeing you again."

"If only I could quit this job and join you," the Headmistress said as she put a hand on Ozen's shoulder and obviously flirting with him. "We could have so much fun together, just you and me."

"Um, yes, but we both have our duties," Ozen said as he pushed the hand off and tried to hide his disgust. "Now, you said you had some information for me?"

"Of course," the Headmistress said. "But first…" The headmistress pulled out a small scroll of paper and handed it to Ozen. "I had one of the artists in town draw a picture of me for you. I hope you like it."

"Um, thank you," Ozen said as he took the scroll but didn't open it. "Shall I meet you in your office in a few minutes?"

"Sure thing dear," the Headmistress said as she walked away.

"Make sure that woman never quits this job," Ozen said after the Headmistress had left their sight. Ozen lifted the scroll in his hand and prepared to open it but Major Lee stopped him.

"I don't think you want to do that sir," Lee said.

"It can't be that bad Major," Ozen said and he opened the scroll.

"Ugh!" both General Ozen and Major Lee said as they looked at the scroll. Immediately a sickened look appeared on their face as they stared at the drawing.

"I warned you sir," Major Lee said.

"What is that thing on her ear?" Ozen said, sounding rather disgusted.

"I'd rather not know sir," Lee said.

"Let's never speak of this again," Ozen said as he rolled up the scroll and handed it to Lee. The two proceeded towards the headmistress's office, trying their best to forget what they had seen, and they arrived to find her sitting patiently behind her desk.

"Please, take a seat," she said referring to the small chair in front of the desk.

"I'd rather stand," Ozen said as he walked up to the desk. "Now tell me what happened here yesterday? Why do you think it was important to reveal to the girl that we were watching her?"

"Oh please Ozen," he Headmistress said. "Don't be mad at me. I had no other choice."

"We think the girl airbended," Major Lee said, but was interrupted by the Headmistress.

"He asked me!" the Headmistress yelled and she slammed her ruler down on the desk.

"Sorry ma'am," Major Lee said as he backed up.

"Now where was I?" the Headmistress said. "Oh yes, we think the girl might have airbended. We don't know exactly what happened, but we know she broke into the pantry to steal food and one of our nicer boys saw her and followed her. When he tried to stop her she attacked him. The boy tried his best to catch the girl but she was moving faster than he had ever seen someone move. Eventually he felt a large gust of wind and was thrown through the door and halfway across the room. I think this is what you have been looking for Ozen. I think she just revealed herself to be an airbender."

"It's exactly as I told you," Major Lee whispered into the General's ear. "She is who you think she is."

"Her airbending means nothing," Ozen whispered back. "We cannot tell if she is the one just from that." Ozen adjusted himself back up to face the Headmistress. "Has anything else strange been happening?" he asked her. "Any strange lights you've been seeing?"

"Well there have been some strange lights," the Headmistress answered.

"Go on."

"Every time I wake up I see these strange dots everywhere," the Headmistress said. "I think my eyesight might be going."

"Just forget it," Ozen said as he let out a sigh. "Bring me to the girl. I need to see her."

"That's going to be a bit of a problem sir," Major Lee said rather nervously.

"Why is that?" Ozen asked.

"She kind of escaped last night."

"WHAT?!" Ozen shouted. "You have an entire battalion of troops under your control and you can't keep track of one girl?!"

"I'm sorry sir," Lee said. "But she had help from someone and tricked the guards. If it helps any they said they last saw her running on the docks."

"The docks?" Ozen asked as he calmed down. "Yes, that would make sense. I think I know where she is going."

"You do sir?" Lee asked surprised. "Where?"

"Where else would a girl who just discovered she can airbend go?" Ozen said. "The one place likely to have answers. Ba Sing Se, home of the largest manmade library in the world. Thank you for your time Headmistress."

"Any time dear," the Headmistress said as Ozen walked out of the room.

"What are your orders, sir?" Major Lee asked Ozen after they had left the room.

"I want a ship ready to head out tomorrow," Ozen said. "Her fifteenth birthday is approaching so we do not have much time to spare. Inform my son to be ready for the trip as well."

"What about the picture sir?"

"What picture?" Ozen asked. "Oh, that. Stuff it in the back of storage. Actually, burn it. And bury the ashes. In fact, burn the ground you bury the ashes in too and I order you to never speak of this again."

"Understood sir," Major lee said as the two of them headed back to the base.

* * *

The Fire Nation ship sailed swiftly through the water on the bright sunny day. It was a cargo ship given the duty of bringing supplies from the Fire Nation to the soldiers fighting in the Earth Kingdom. The ship was scheduled to dock at a port on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom, but unfortunately for Kali it was the only ship leaving that day and if she didn't want to get caught she had to take it. Luckily for her the soldiers weren't quite used to stowaways so she was easily able to hide up on the deck with the fresh air.

She was hiding between a large stack of crates on the deck just close enough to the edge so she could feel a good breeze. As she looked around trying to keep herself occupied until they reach the port she noticed two soldiers nearby. One of them was holding a red and orange shirt and both seemed to be talking intently. Kali quietly slipped over towards them so she could hear what they were discussing but still kept herself hidden.

"That's a nice shirt," one of the soldiers said.

"Thanks," the soldier holding the shirt said. "Had it made before we left. It turned out really good."

"Yea it did," the first soldier said. "The orange-red will look great on you."

"What are you talking about?" the soldier with the shirt asked. "This shirt is obviously red-orange."

"Are you crazy?" the first soldier said. "Why would you ever think that was red-orange?"

"What's going on here?" a third soldier asked as he came over.

"Well I was just telling him that my shirt is red-orange, not orange-red," said the soldier.

"What? That is obviously orange-red."

"Oh come on," said a fourth soldier who had been listening. "There is no way that is orange-red." Kali watched in amusement as the soldiers argued over the shirt until a rather grumpy looking man walked over to the small group.

"What is going on here?" the man said. "Why aren't you working?"

"Well captain, we were trying to decide whether this shirt was red-orange or orange-red," the soldier with the shirt said. "It's obviously red-orange to anyone who can see, but what do you think?"

"You want to know what I think?" the captain asked. He walked up to the soldier and snatched the shirt out of his hand, throwing it overboard afterwards.

"Hey, I liked that shirt!" the soldier said. After seeing this Kali couldn't resist anymore and started laughing.

"What was that?!" the captain asked while looking around and Kali immediately stopped laughing. "Was that a child?"

"What are you talking about captain?" one of the soldiers asked. "That was probably just Ming laughing."

"Hey, my laugh doesn't sound that girly!" Ming protested.

"That laugh came from a child!" the captain shouted. "That means we have a stowaway. Find her and bring her to me!"

"You sure captain?" one of the soldiers asked. "That didn't sound like a kid to me."

"Either find her or I'll do to you what I did to that shirt!" the captain shouted and all the soldiers immediately rushed away.

* * *

"I can't believe the captain set us on a wild turtle-duck chase," Ming said as she walked through the engine room with one of the other soldiers.

"Actually Ming, the captain might be on to something," the soldier said. "That laugh did sound a bit young."

"Oh come on Chan," Ming said. "The captain is always wasting our time with stuff like this. And how many times have we actually caught someone on this ship?"

"I suppose you're right," Chan said as they rounded a corner and continued to walk on. Kali watched from down the aisle as the two soldiers approached her hiding spot. As soon as she realized she had given herself away she headed to what she thought would be the last place anyone would look for her. Unfortunately for her she was wrong on her assumption. As Ming and Chan walked closer towards her, Kali slowly backed up trying her best to hide herself behind the equipment. As she backed up though she didn't notice the tall boom propped up against the wall behind and only realized it was there after she had knocked it over.

"What was that?" Ming said as they heard the crash from the broom echo around the metal room. "Someone's here."

"Are you sure?" Chan asked, looking a bit nervous. "Maybe it was just the wind?"

"You go that way and I'll look this way," Ming said and she darted off towards the left away from Kali. Kali wasn't as lucky with Chan though for he had started heading down the aisle again towards her. As Chan neared Kali she quickly thought up of a plan and snatched the broom up from the floor. She knew what she had was a crazy plan but it was the only one she had and she just had to try something.

As Chan reached the opening where Kali hid, she quickly brought the broom down on his head and started hitting him repeatedly with it. Chan screamed as he fell down on the floor, caught completely off guard by the sudden attack.

"Help Ming!" he shouted. "I'm being attacked!" The broom vanished as quickly as it had come and when Ming reached Chan there was no sign of Kali or the broom.

"What happened?" Ming asked. "What attacked you?"

"I don't know," Chan said as he got up. "I think…I think it was a ghost broom!"

"A what?" Ming asked.

"A ghost broom," Chan said. "It just came out of nowhere and started attacking me."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not!" Chan said. "I've heard of this before. My brother got attacked by one once."

"Just come on," Ming said as she grabbed Chan's arm and started walking again. "We'll find out who this stowaway is." Several minutes passed but nothing happened. Just as Ming and Chan were about to give up looking the unexpected happened. The broom suddenly appeared out of nowhere again, coming down and hitting them both several times. Ming tried to fight back but she was unable to see due to all the flying dust.

"That broom is possessed!" she shouted as she started to run. "Let's get out of here!"

* * *

The captain of the ship walked down the corridor towards the engine room just as grumpy as he had been earlier. He always hated it when stowaways got onto his ship, so much that he would have the crew do several sweeps of the ship before it left and even while on the ocean. There had been no reports to him of anyone being found but he knew there was someone hiding here and the fact that she had not been found only angered him more. Unfortunately for him though his mood got only worse as he rounded the next corner.

In front of the door to the engine room stood a small group of soldiers all talking intensely. He quickly stomped over to them, his temper at its limit.

"What is going on here?!" he demanded. "You are supposed to be looking for the child!"

"We were sir," Chan said. "But we kinda ran into a little problem."

"What kind of problem?!" the captain shouted.

"Well we were looking for the girl in the engine room like you said," Ming told the captain. "But we were attacked by a…possessed broom."

"You got attacked by what?" the captain asked, hoping he misheard what they said.

"A ghost broom, sir," Chan said. "It came out of nowhere and started beating us. We were just able to get away."

"I do not have time for this nonsense!" the captain yelled as he shoved the soldiers aside. "If you are too weak to handle one girl then I will do it myself!"

"You don't want to do that sir," one of the soldiers said. "You never want to fight a possessed broom. They're one of the worst kinds of possessed cleaning equipment."

"He's right captain," Chan said. "My brother fought a ghost broom once. When the fight was over my brother was never the same. We had to have my uncle clean the house every weekend from then on."

"Out of my way you fools!" the captain shouted as he opened the door and headed inside.

"I'm not joking sir," Chan said. "My uncle was horrible at cleaning. When he was done the house looked worse than it did when he started!" But it was already too late for the captain had already headed inside.

"Ten gold pieces that he lasts five minutes," Ming suddenly said.

"Oh you're on!"

The captain slowly headed through the room checking every nook and crann. He checked behind every pipe and in every crack but could not find the stowaway. The captain did not believe any of that nonsense about ghost brooms the other soldiers were talking about for he knew that this was clearly just the stowaway messing with their heads.

As the captain moved through the room investigating the place, Kali watched hidden behind the pipes in an area he had not reached yet. She knew that she had to be more careful in order to avoid this man. While the captain was examining an area on the other side of the room Kali slowly and quietly stepped out from behind the pipes and into the aisle. Unfortunately her plan did not go quite as she expected for as she was stepping out from behind the pipes the broom she was holding clanked against one of them. She had no time to hide before the captain turned around and instantly spotted her.

"Aha!" the captain yelled and he immediately shot out a ball of fire towards Kali. Kali was just able to avoid the fire by jumping around a corner and out of harm's way. The captain wasted no time at all before chasing her but as he ran down the aisle and around the corner he was not expecting what came next.

As soon as the captain had rounded the corner Kali hit him across the face with the broom handle, both breaking the broom handle and knocking the captain right on his back. As the captain was trying to regain his senses Kali threw the other half of the broom on the ground and darted towards the door. After a few moments the captain was capable of getting back up and shot a fireball towards Kali, but she was able to slip through the door before it reached her.

The soldiers were too busy talking amongst themselves to react to Kali when she rushed out the door and past them. Before any of them could figure what had happened, the captain had rushed through the door and past them all as well, disappearing down the hall and out of their site. For a minute or two the captain had lost sight of Kali but as soon as he rounded the first corner he spotted her towards the other end of the hall and started aiming blasts of fire towards her.

Surprisingly Kali was able to avoid the fire blasts by reacting to and dodging them faster than she thought she was capable of doing. Kali ran as fast as she could towards the door at the end of the hallway which led outside and as soon as the captain realized where she was headed he stopped sending fire towards her and started to charge a single large attack. Just as Kali was reaching the door the captain shot off an enormous fireball down the hallway, but Kali was just able to slip out and close the door behind her as the fireball reached her.

As soon as the door closed the captain dashed towards it, not wanting to lose his prey. As soon as he opened the door and rushed outside he heard a splash within the water off the side of the ship. He ran over to the railing but it was already too late to see what caused the splash. The captain assumed that she had decided to jump off the boat rather than face his wrath and was both satisfied and disappointed. Luckily for him though he still had one way to get rid of his anger as he headed back inside towards the soldiers who were still talking by the engine room.

As soon as the captain left, Kali slipped out from behind a crate next to the door. She decided that, until they docked, she would hide in her previous spot for the rest of the journey, except all the way back within the crack. Almost being killed was enough of an adventure for her for a while.

Chapter 3 End

* * *

And that was chapter 3.Kali has started her journey and you have now seen one of the main villains make his first true appearance (the appearance on the first chapter doesn't count since his personality was different back then. :P )

But unfortunately the main question wasn't answered...

WAS THE SHIRT RED-ORANGE OR ORANGE-RED?! The world may never know...

Next chapter should be up either tomorrow or the day after. I have this written up to chapter 8, so it will go fast until then, especially at the chapters which don't need much revision.

Mumbo jumbo:

The Avatar universe and all related characters are the property of Mike, Brian, and Nickelodeon. The plot for this story and all characters which are new here are entirely my creation. Blah Blah Blah nobody cares.


	4. The Spirit Woods

And here is chapter 4! Just finished prooreading it. I like the revisions i did here.

I still don't know how to answer to reviews but to answer that question, no the gang with not appear often here. They will make some gag appearances but not too often. This will have entirely original characters and plotline. Actually, the first of my gang appears in chapter 5.

Well enjoy. Not as much humor in this one but a lot of plot development.

* * *

Book 1: Journey to Ba Sing Se

Chapter 4

"The Spirit Woods"

The leaves on the trees rustled as the evening wind blew through the forest. Despite the darkening sky, the forest was as busy and bustling as it always was. Creatures were finishing their dinner and getting ready for a long night's sleep, while other creatures were just waking up and preparing to go on a promising hunt.

On a dark, deserted path running through the forest a lone girl walked. Although it had been spring for a few months, a cool breeze chilled the air. The girl huddled tightly inside her cloak to keep the surprisingly chilling air out. The hood of her cloak covered her head and face so that any travelers along the road wouldn't recognize her, but luckily for her she hadn't seen anyone else.

It wasn't like Kali thought it would be. Sure, she knew the trip wouldn't be easy, but she never thought it would be like this. After her adventure on the ship with the captain, Kali had decided to be a bit more careful than before. When she had arrived on Earth Kingdom shores she had been excited to begin her new life of freedom and adventure, but it had been harder than she originally anticipated.

The main thing she didn't take into consideration was the distance she would have to cover to reach Ba Sing Se. She had been walking for the past two weeks, every day getting closer and closer to her goal, but every time she got to a town and looked at the map, she was disappointed at how far there was still left to go. At this rate, it would take weeks, maybe even months, to reach the capital. Luckily for her, all the work she was forced to do at the orphanage over the years had kept her in pretty good shape for the long walk.

On the brighter side, she had never run out of food due to the money Azuki had given her. And with how cheap the food was out there, the money would probably last her the entire trip. Although food had been easy to come by, shelter was more of a problem. Whenever she was in town she was easily able to afford a place to sleep, but whenever she was on the road and night came, she would be forced to sleep right there. At least it was spring, so the night air wasn't too cold.

She continued walking through the forest, on a rather unused path, and realized that she would probably have to stay there for the night. Usually she didn't have a problem with sleeping outside, but there were always those places that she never felt quite comfortable in letting her guard down and staying for the night. She specially wasn't comfortable with this forest because of what she had heard before she left.

While buying some supplies at the town before heading into the forest, she had overheard a few men talking. Normally she would have ignored it but the topic of their discussion interested her quite a bit.

"So I hear you're taking your wagon through the forest to sell at another town," one of the men said. "We'll have your funeral ready when you get back."

"Very funny," another of the men said. "It's just a forest. Nothing to worry about."

"Yea but this isn't any old forest," a third man said. "This is the Spirit Woods."

"Don't tell me you actually believe that nonsense," the second man said.

"You mean you don't?" the first man asked. "Many people have seen them."

"What are you talking about?" a fourth man asked.

"Well, our little town here has nicknamed that forest out there the Spirit Woods," the man explained. "That's because every time night falls spirits start wandering out there. They say that at night the barrier between the spirit world and the mortal world is almost broken in that forest and if you aren't careful you could find yourself lost in there forever or attacked by dark spirits."

"On top of that, there are rumors there is a witch in there!" the third man said.

"Oh come on," the second man said. "A witch?"

"You heard me!" the third man said. "They say she is a woman over one-hundred years old who talks to the spirits every night trying to fulfill her evil plans."

"That's just a bunch of nonsense," the second man said.

"So can I have your stuff when you don't come back?" one of the men asked.

"Hey, I'm getting his stuff!" another one of the men said.

"I'm the one who needs it most," said a third.

"No one is getting my stuff!" the second man said. "I'll show you. When I get back I'll be a richer man and you'll all see how foolish you are."

The words those men had spoke had remained within Kali's head as she left the town, and even more now as night came. She kept walking, trying to cover as much distance as she could in an attempt to find a town and place to stay. The sun continued to set lower in the sky and the forest grew darker with every minute. Finally, when it had gotten to the point where she could hardly see, she gave up and decided to find a place to camp.

It took a bit of looking, but she eventually found the perfect clearing just off the side of the road. It wasn't too big, but at the same time wasn't too small. It appeared to have been used many times, like one of those unofficial resting places designated by travelers. The first thing she did was set up a fire in the center of the clearing to give her light and a place to cook. She gathered the lose twigs and branches from around the clearing and, after a few tries, was able to light a fire.

When the fire was set and ready, she started to prepare her dinner. She was in the mood for soup tonight so she took some of the water stored in her pack and started heating it within a pot. As she made her soup and prepared for dinner, she also pulled out a tent. She had bought a tent when the boat arrived in the Earth Kingdom because she thought it might be useful to have and she was sure right about that.

With the tent up and a fire in the middle, she quietly sat down and ate her soup when it was ready.

"Yuck!" she said as she sipped the soup. "Tastes like ocean kumquats. Oh wait, all my food tastes like that."

As she knew all too well, Kali wasn't that good of a cook. She had hardly ever been assigned to work in the kitchen and the few things she did know she was just barely able to make. So she sat against the tree eating her soup as the fire cracked and the darkness of the forest was just barely pushed back by the firelight. The sounds of the night creatures echoed throughout the trees, and the longer Kali sat there eating, the less she enjoyed it and the more nervous she got.

_Crack._ She quickly turned her head around. What was that? She peered through the forest, but the ever foreboding darkness at the edge of the clearing prevented her from seeing much. She turned back to her half empty bowel, hoping that it was just a small animal walking on a twig. The bowel continued to slowly empty as fire continued to crackle and the sounds of creatures far off in the distance crept into the camp.

_Crack._ There it was again, but louder this time, and closer. Kali tried peering in the forest again, but had less luck than last time in finding anything. If something was out there, hiding and watching, it had good cover. Kali turned back to her bowel, ready to finish eating when the sounds came again.

_Crack. Crack._ It was closer now, almost to the edge of the clearing. Whatever it was, it was interested in either her soup, or her. As Kali got increasingly nervous, she decided it would be best to head into the tent and sleep. She would keep the fire lit through the night, hoping that whatever this thing was would be too afraid to come out. She slowly got up, placed the bowel next to the fire, and headed to her tent. But before she could even take one step towards the tent something dropped down from the trees in front of her.

She let out a startled cry and tried to step back but, due to her surprise, stumbled on her feet and fell flat on her back. She prepared for the worst, just waiting for that thing to pounce on her and rip her to shreds, but nothing came. She lifted herself up on her arms and looked at the spot where the thing had fallen. What she saw was not something terrifying, but probably one of the most bizarre creatures she had ever seen.

The creature was rather small, its height reaching around Kali's knee while it was hunched over. It had a face and a body resembling that of a small monkey, with small triangular ears on the top of its head. Its arms and legs were that of a primate, with opposable thumbs on both hands and feet. Most of its body was covered in a bushy grey-brown fur except for its chest, hands, feet, and face. At its rear there was a long, rather bushy tail curled up.

Kali slowly sat up while staring at the strange creature. It hadn't moved much from where it had landed save for a few glances around the campsite, and Kali started to wonder why it had come. She at first thought it was hungry and wanted food, but as she watched it she noticed it didn't seem to be at all interested in the soup. For most of the time it had been there, it had been staring at her. In fact, it wasn't fully staring at her, but more at a certain part of her.

She followed the trail of its stare and saw what object had interested the creature so much. She slowly lifted up her right hand and moved it around in front of her, all the while watching the creature. Not once did the animal's eyes move away from the bracelet wrapped around her wrist. She took the bracelet off and, while holding the bracelet in her left hand, moved her right hand around again. But as she moved her right hand, not once did the creature's eyes leave her left hand which held the bracelet.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of this and decided to find out why this creature cared so much about her bracelet. As she laid it on her right wrist and prepared to strap it back on the creature suddenly darted forward. Before she could realize what was going on, the animal had rushed forward, grabbed the bracelet, and ran off towards the woods.

"Hey!" she yelled after the animal and before she knew what she was doing she grabbed one of the branches in the fire to use as a torch and ran into the woods after the animal. She ran through the tangling roots and prickly bushes as fast as she could so she wouldn't lose the creature. The deeper she got into the forest the darker it became, but luckily for her the torch was enough to allow her to keep going. She ran through the forest using the sounds the creature made as it swung through the trees as her guide. Even when she couldn't hear the noises anymore she continued in hope that she would catch up and not lose the bracelet.

Eventually she realized how pointless it was to continue and stopped walking. What was worse was that not only did she lose the bracelet, she was sure she was now lost in the forest. After realizing how stupid she had been, she turned around and headed in the direction she thought was her camp. If she had thought the forest was scary before, she would now see how much scarier it could get. As she headed through the forest the darkness slowly engulfed her as her torch grew dimmer. Off in the distance she could hear the sound of wolves howling which caused her to move ever so faster.

The time passed as she hurried through the forest, but the longer she took the more it seemed like she wasn't getting anywhere. Eventually she gave up and fell to her knees. So was this it? Was her journey going to end with her lost in the forest and maybe even worse? But then again, how much worse can it get than being lost in the forest with no food and no way to get back?

It was just then that she noticed a very dim light shinning down in her direction. She looked up towards the direction of the light to notice a small cottage standing on top of a hill in a nearby clearing. She had no idea why there was a house out here and why anyone in their right mind would want to live in this forest but she didn't care. She was lost in this forest with no way out and nowhere to go, and this cottage offered the only way for her to get back to her camp and live another day.

She slowly walked up towards the cottage, not knowing what to expect when she reached it. The cottage looked in no way peculiar or strange other than its location. Dim lights shown out through the windows indicating that the inhabitant was still up, but Kali was still not sure if she wanted to knock. She firmly pulled herself together and finally knocked on the door, and as soon as she did she could hear movement from inside. Within a minute the door was opened to reveal a person in the doorway.

The woman who stood in the doorway was one of the oldest women Kali had ever seen, if not the oldest woman. She stood at about the height of Kali, even while hunched over. Her hair was long and gray, tied up in a bun atop her head, and she wore long robes colored different shades of purple and blue. Around her neck was a necklace made of what appeared to be many types of animal teeth, and both her wrists were covered with different sized bracelets. The thing that surprised Kali the most though was not her outfit, but the fact that this woman had light blue eyes, almost the exact shade as Kali's.

"Well who is this?" the woman asked. "I hardly ever get visitors out here in the forest. What brings you to my house?"

"Um, hi," Kali said. "I was just walking through the forest and, well, I'm kind of lost."

"Oh, you are dear?" the woman said. "Come on inside then. I can help you. Maybe even give you something hot to drink."

"Um, thank you, but I need to get back to my camp," Kali said. "I don't want to cause you any trouble. I just need to know which way the road is."

"Oh it's no trouble at all dear," the woman said as she ushered Kali inside and closed the door behind her. "Besides, a young girl like you should not be outside so late. There are dangerous creatures out in those woods."

As soon as Kali had walked inside she saw what she thought was the strangest place she had ever seen, and she was probably right. There was hardly any free space at all in the room and Kali was surprised the woman was even capable of walking around Strange objects sat everywhere within the room, either on the floor or on shelves. There were pieces of broken plants, strange manmade objects, and even dead animal skulls. Against the wall next to a doorway heading into another room stood a small potted tree standing just short of the tall ceiling.

"Please sit down," the woman said as she pointed to a nearby chair and Kali quickly obeyed. "Perhaps I can get you some tea? It's really good."

"Um, I guess," Kali said, trying her best not to touch anything in the room. "It's probably better than anything I can make."

"We all learn at some point dear," the woman said as she poured some tea from a pot over the fire. "By the way, my name is Iio. Same name as my mother."

"I'm Kali," Kali said, but as soon as she said that Iio stopped moving. She immediately looked over at Kali and started staring at her, as if inspecting her. Kali instantly wished she hadn't said anything, and was starting to wish she never came out here in the first place.

"Is that so?" Iio eventually said as a smile returned on her face. Kali did not like the way she looked before, but this new look was starting to scare her. Iio quickly walked over to give Kali her tea and Kali took it just as fast without making any eye contact. Kali took one sip of the tea and spit it out immediately.

"What's this made of?" she asked.

"It's my own special recipe," Iio said. "It's made from seaweed! Good for building up your body and keeping it strong."

"On second thought, I think I'm full," Kali said as she pushed the tea away from her.

"Are you sure dear?" Iio asked. "I have a nice frog eye stew cooking now if you want some."

"I'm good," Kali said as she tried to hide her disgust. "So…do you live out here alone?"

"Of course not dear," Iio said. "Who in their right mind would live alone in the woods? I live with Moko."

"Who is Moko?" Kali asked. "Is that your husband?"

"Of course not," Iio answered. "I used to have a husband, but I didn't like him too much so I got rid of him. But Moko on the other hand is better than any husband ever could be." As Iio finished talking she reached into her pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a small hog-monkey skull decorated in jewels and gems.

"What's that?" Kali asked.

"This is Moko of course," Iio said, sounding a bit offended. "He is the best companion I could ever hope for. Found him in the woods one day and I just had to take him in. He's so funny too. Yes you are Moko. So very funny."

"Um, well, isn't there anyone else living in the forest you can talk to?" Kali asked, still feeling a bit disturbed.

"Moko and I are the only two who live in this forest," Iio said as she placed Moko on the table. "What would have ever made you think someone else was out here?"

"Well, they say a witch lives out here," Kali said.

"So is that what they are calling me now?" Iio asked with a small laugh. "Iio, the Spirit Witch. Has a nice ring to it."

"Spirit Witch?" Kali asked. "What's that?"

"Well, Kali, as you probably have heard, this forest is inhabited by many spirits that come out at night," Iio explained. "It's why I live here. To live in a place surrounded by so many spirits is what I have dreamed of for such a long time. I have special connections to the spirit world after so many years of traveling and patience. I can communicate with the spirits here after so many years of training. Oh, if you could only hear what they had to say. Some would not approve of it though."

"Why not?"

"Most people would call me crazy for following such a path as I have," Iio explained as a dark expression appeared on her face. "They laughed at me, ridiculed me, and banished me from my home. But they are all dead and I still live yet. Who is the one laughing now?" Iio stood there for a minute or two lost in her thoughts but instantly snapped out of it when Kali spoke.

"I think I should be going," Kali said as she got up.

"Oh there is nothing to worry about dear," Iio said. "You can stay here for the night, and tomorrow I will lead you back to the path. Now if you would excuse me, I have to go finish my dinner. I will be back shortly."

As soon as Iio had finished talking she headed out through a nearby doorway into another room. Kali did not like this place and the more she talked to Iio the less Kali liked her. She started looking around at the many objects around the room and just as she was about to sneak out and leave she noticed something interesting. In the room past the doorway next to the tree stood a small desk with a few objects on it. Kali normally wouldn't have cared for what those objects were, but one of them had caught her attention.

Kali quickly and silently walked over to this room and desk. She had no idea what most of the objects on the desk were but none of those were what she was interested in. On the center of the desk was a necklace, but this was very unlike the necklace Iio wore. It consisted of many wooden beads strung together, and in the center was a large pendant. What interested Kali the most was not the necklace itself, but the design on the pendant. Carved into the pendant rather deeply were three swirls, all situated around the center in a triangle.

She had seen that design quite a few times before, and each time it was present it was related to something involving the Air Nomads. As she stared at the necklace something else caught her attention. Sitting next to the pendant was a small piece of paper with a design drawn upon it. This design wasn't an Air Nomad design though, but the same design that was on Kali's bracelet. She was completely clueless as to how this woman could have such a thing, but before Kali could think about it any further she heard a strange noise behind her. She turned around to see what had made the noise and what she saw shocked her.

Standing at the other side of the room facing Kali was a man, or at least she thought it was a man. He was very tall, one of the tallest men she had ever seen, and was so skinny that she wondered how he even lived. Completely covering this man's body was a long black hooded robe which flapped to a phantom wind. The only part of this man that could be seen was his right hand which stuck out of the robe's sleeve. The sight of this hand disgusted Kali because it looked like no normal hand, but instead appeared to be completely black with pointed fingers.

"Who are you?" Kali asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Release me," it said to her, and the sound of its voice startled Kali. Instead of sounding like a normal voice, this thing's voice sounded more like a very harsh wind sounding both loud and soft.

"What?" Kali asked as she backed up a bit.

"Find the cube," the thing said as it raised its hand. Kali noticed that on this thing's palm was the same strange symbol that was on her bracelet and on the paper next to her. As the thing brought up its hand it started to walk towards her.

"Release me from this prison," it said in its harsh voice. "Find the cube and fulfill your purpose." Kali had no idea what to do, and just as she had run out of room to back up Iio appeared in the doorway.

"You!" she shouted. "What are you doing here?! I don't serve you anymore." As soon has Iio had spoke the thing stopped moving and turned towards her.

"You are here for her?" Iio asked as she started to piece things together. "But why would you care for…of course. How did I not see it sooner, Kali?"

"See what?" Kali asked, and a sinister smile spread across Iio's face.

"How could I have missed something so obvious?" Iio said as she started to move towards Kali. "I should have realized it when I heard your name. After all the years I spent searching for you, you just come up on my doorstep ready for me. So much power just a hair away from my control."

Kali had no idea what was going on but she did not want to wait any longer. She instantly started running for the door as Iio tried to pounce on her. She was just able to react fast enough and avoid Iio, who crashed against the desk and knocked it over. As Kali ran towards the door to the other room, she noticed that the strange cloaked man had disappeared but didn't have time to worry about that now. Iio quickly got back to her feet and rushed to the doorway after Kali had ran through, but just as Iio reached the doorway she was completely caught off guard when her potted tree was pushed down onto her.

As Iio tried to untangle herself from the branches, Kali ran out the door and back into the forest. She spent several minutes running through the trees but was too nervous to ever check behind her to see if she was being followed. When she finally thought she had lost Iio she fell down on her hands and knees and started panting hard. What had that been about? So many strange things had happened to her recently, and she had no idea what to think of it. Iio obviously seemed to know quite a bit about Kali, but there was no way Kali was going back there to find out what it was.

Unfortunately for her, things were not about to get better because just then she heard the sound of breaking twigs and low growls behind her. Kali quickly turned around and to her horror saw two white wolves, teeth shown and slowly closing in. She had left her torch back at the Iio's house and had no other tools with her. If she wanted to save herself she would have to do something creative. Unfortunately she couldn't think of anything.

She thought about running to escape the wolves but they had backed her against a tree. These weren't humans either, meaning they were much more agile and swift for her to avoid like she had done before. It was then that she realized the only thing she could do. Even if she still wasn't completely sure she had airbended it was still the only thing she could think of. How hard could it be? She had done it before, even if by accident. But, she wasn't even thinking about it when it happened. It shouldn't be any harder now though, especially since she was conscious of what she could do, though still a little doubtful. She should be able to do it again as long as she copied all the movements. But, what would happen if she failed? She wiped that thought from her head just as fast as it came. All she needed to think about right now is doing what she had done back at the orphanage and trying to save herself.

She moved her body, trying her best to copy the position her legs and arms were in that night in the pantry. She wasn't able to perfect it as she had hoped, but she didn't have time as the wolves were moving closer with each second. As the wolves got ready to pounce she realized she could not waste any more time. She quickly shot her hands out at the wolves hoping for the best but fearing the worst. The air around her moved as her hands thrust towards the first wolf. Before the wolf could act or notice what was going on he was swept up by the wind and pushed back a few feet. It wasn't much but it was enough. The wolf quickly got up and ran away in fright due to the phantom attack.

But as the first one was leaving, the second one prepared to pounce. Kali had no time to react in order to stop the second wolf before it had a chance to attack, but luckily for her she did no need to do anything. Just as the second wolf was to pounce, the strange animal from before which had stolen Kali's bracelet jumped down from the trees and landed on the wolf's head. The wolf immediately started running around and trying to get the strange attacker off, but it wasn't any use. The more the wolf ran around the tighter the animal held on.

While the wolf was occupied with the animal, Kali quickly readjusted her position so she could repeat the attack she had used on the previous wolf. The animal seemed to have realized what it is that Kali was doing, and once she was ready to attack again it jumped off the wolf and onto a nearby tree. Kali reproduced the arm movements for a third time, with much more ease than before, and the wolf was quickly thrown back.

For the first time since all this had started she finally had proof that she was an airbender. She had not tried to find out earlier if it was true due to her fear that all of this would have been a waste if she wasn't. As she started to enjoy her first victory that night, she noticed the strange animal from before drop down from the trees again. Before she could see if it still had the bracelet it ran off again through the trees, but at slower pace than before.

She quickly followed the creature thinking that there was nothing to lose. The more she followed the more it seemed like it was leading her. After a long walk and almost losing the creature many times, she finally came out in an all too familiar clearing. The fire had died down during her time in the forest and was just a few burning cinders. The creature dropped down from the trees long enough to place the bracelet next to the fire and disappeared back into the trees again.

Tired from the long night in the woods, Kali quickly put the bracelet back on and headed into the tent. As she lay on the ground dozing off into a much needed sleep she could hear the strange creature moving overhead in the trees and started to wonder if this would be the last she will see of it.

* * *

"Can you believe it Moko?" Iio asked as she walked around her house. "After all the time I spent searching for her she just appears right on my doorstep. If only it could have happened sooner. I am much too old for this." As Iio was talking she gathered up many strange objects around the house and stuffed them in her bag.

"And after all this I let her get away?" Iio said. "How could I have let that happen? But don't worry Moko. I assure you it won't happen again." She stopped packing and stared at the hog-monkey skull in silence for a few moments.

"Oh you are perfectly right Moko," she eventually said and went back to packing. "I have no idea what I would do without your sense of humor. But don't worry Moko. Things will get better very soon and I will be able to get her power. Once that power is mine I will finally be able to change this world into what it should be." The hog-monkey skull sat silently on the table as Iio packed. The few people she had met called Iio crazy for talking to this skull, but she did not care what they said for they all would pay in the end.

"Oh don't worry Moko," she said as she threw the bag on her back. "The Fire Nation will be yours to take care of. I know you have a past with them. Now if you are all done with your business then let's head out." Iio picked up the small decorated skull and headed out into the forest, closing the door behind her and leaving her house abandoned.

Chapter 4 End

* * *

Well that was it. Hope you liked it. This was darker than the other chapters because of what I was introducing.That spirit thing she saw was creepy but somehow has a connection to her. And how did that old lady in the woods know her?

She is just getting enemies left and right, First she had General Ozen, and now she has this crazy lady following her. And she still has no idea what is going on. Don't worry, next chapter she will find a new friend and the first member of her gang (well I guess you could say two.)

Mumbo Jumbo:

Avatar universe and characters belong to Mike, Bryan, and Nickelodeon. All characters and plot lines not in the show are my creation. Snore.


	5. A Boy With Hope

And here is the next chapter. Hardly had to change anything at add. Just add some more humor and so forth and that's it. Hope you enjoy. Kali starts fighting back more now :D

* * *

Book 1: Journey to Ba Sing Se

Chapter 5

"A Boy With Hope"

The town was nestled comfortably along the edge of the forest. It was a happy little town, with kind folk and fun children. Everyone was always willing to lend a hand to each other and stop in the street for a little chat and a joke. The travelers were always welcome here, with a large inn to stay in and some people even willing to house the worn out travelers for a night or two. Stories were always told from those who visited as to how friendly and caring the town was, and that always brought more people wishing to visit. And as more people came, the market flourished and the town prospered and expanded.

It was a happy little town, or at least it was before the Fire Nation had come. As the war drew deeper and deeper into Earth Kingdom territory, the Fire Nation had come to find this busy and successful town along the edge of the woods. As soon as they found it they knew exactly what to do with this bustling town. They took food for the soldiers, leaving little left for town to sell on market day. They ordered the blacksmiths to craft weapons and armor for the army. The enforced taxes upon everyone just so the governors of the Fire Nation could be even wealthier than they already were.

As time passed the Fire Nation took more and more each time, barely leaving any food for the townsfolk to eat, almost no metal to work with, and hardly any money at all to keep the place running smoothly. The years went by and the town deteriorated and the buildings collapsed until it was nothing more than a rat hole for the poor and lost, and all memories of the past life all but washed away. Many people had lost hope that things would get better, but with news of the Fire Nation's defeat at the North Pole and the Avatar coming to the Earth Kingdom, there are a few who have regained hope that things might change and that past life of this once prospering town just might not be lost forever…

* * *

"Well hello there Sanyu," the old woman said. "And how are you today?"

"I'm doing good ma'am," answered Sanyu.

"That's good to here," the woman said. "Do you have my usual order?"

"Yes I do. Just give me a minute to find it," said Sanyu, and ducked behind the top of the counter.

Sanyu was one of the few children left in the town gone to waste. He was around fifteen years of age and had lived in that town all his life. With short brown hair, a cheering face, and brown eyes some would say he was a bit handsome. Too bad for him there were no other girls in the town his age. His clothes were rather plain, consisting of a dark green shirt, open at the front and strapped together one side over the other by a belt at his waist. He also wore simple pants the same shade as his shirt.

He knelt behind the counter of the small fruits and vegetables stand searching for what the woman had come to get until he eventually spotted a small brown box. 

He picked up the box of assorted fruits and vegetables and handed it to the old woman.

"Thank you Sanyu," the old woman said after taking the box. "I'll make sure those Fire Nation goons don't get their hands on this. You have a nice day now and be good."

Sanyu stared after the old woman as she walked away, the small box hidden within her sack. As he watched the woman disappear down the street, he couldn't help but thinking how pointless this might all be. A while back he had found a way to sneak some of the food away from the Fire Nation without them knowing. Each week he would put the food in certain packages and give them to the elderly and children so they would have enough food for the week. But as he kept doing it each week, he lost more and more hope that this would change anything. There just had to be something more he could do. There had to be some way to get the soldiers out of the town.

"Um, do you sell food here?" a girl's voice suddenly intruded upon Sanyu's thoughts. Sanyu turned to see who had spoken to him and, upon seeing her, was immediately speechless.

She was one of the prettiest girls Sanyu had ever seen. With long brown hair, stunning blue-grayish eyes, and almost clear skin it was hard for Sanyu to stop staring, despite her somewhat dirty cloak and skin. This girl affected him even more because he hadn't seen many around his age after he had started to like girls.

"Um, hello?" the girl asked, waving her hand in front of Sanyu.

"Oh, sorry," said Sanyu, breaking from his trance. "Yea, I sell food here, but only fruits and vegetables. If you want any meat you'll have to go down the road."

"It's ok," said the girl. "I don't really like meat anyways. Just never felt right to me. So what do you have?"

Sanyu reached down behind the counter and pulled up a wide open box. Within the box were two ears of corn, a few apples, and some rather old oranges. "I'm sorry but that's all I have left," Sanyu said. "I don't think you'll really enjoy any of it."

"What do you mean?" asked the girl. "It must be really good if it sells so fast."

"Well that's the thing," said Sanyu. "I haven't really sold any of it. This is all that's left after the Fire Nation sorts through it."

"The Fire Nation? What are you talking about?"

"Well what do we have here?" a man's voice said all of a sudden. "Looks like the farmer's little brat is running the stand today." Both Sanyu and the girl turned towards the voice to see a Fire Nation soldier walking over to the stand with a rather smug look on his face.

"What do you want?" Sanyu snapped at the man.

"I'm here to collect this week's taxes, boy," answered the soldier.

"What? We already paid you this week!"

"The taxes just got raised. I'm here to collect the rest. Now cough up the money."

"What?!" said Sanyu, looking outraged. "We hardly have enough left after the current taxes! What are you even using the money for?"

"To protect this town from bandits and thieves of course," the soldier said. "There's been a real nasty one around lately terrorizing the nearby towns. Appears 

out of nowhere with his two broadswords and steals everything you're carrying. They call him the Blue Spirit."

"You're probably just making that up to get more money," Sanyu said. "There's no way we're paying you more!"

"You better watch your mouth there, son," said the soldier, raising his hand and igniting a small fire above the palm. "We don't want any accidents happening at the farm, now do we?"

Sanyu stood glaring at the man for a few moments, but finally gave in. He reached under the table and pulled out a small sack. The soldier quickly took it without saying anything and poured the few coins there were into a larger sack on his belt.

"You can keep the copper pieces," he said as he tossed the sack onto the counter. "Pleasure doing business with you. And one more thing. Rumor has it that some little punk is stealing Fire Nation food and giving it to the villagers. I suggest you tell that guy to get out of here, unless he wants to know what it's like to be on the sun."

"Act normal," the girl said as the man walked away and Sanyu saw the girl pick up one of the oranges. Before Sanyu could stop her the girl had thrown to orange right into the back of the soldier's head. The soldier immediately turned around to see who had thrown the fruit but all he saw were Sanyu and the girl apparently in conversation.

"Who threw that?!" he yelled at them.

"Huh?" the girl said as she turned to the soldier. "Who threw what?"

"The fruit!" the soldier yelled.

"What fruit?"

"The fruit that was just thrown at me!" the soldier yelled as he lost his patience.

"Someone threw a fruit at you," the girl asked. "I didn't see anything."

"Of course someone threw a fruit at me!" the soldier said. "Why else would there be juice on my head?"

"I don't know," the girl said. "Wasn't that always there?"

"Of course not! I don't particularly enjoy walking around with juice on my head."

"Well I don't know that," the girl said. "Maybe you put it on yourself this morning and forgot about it. It's starting to get warmer and it seems pretty refreshing."

"I guess that could have happened," the soldier said. "I have been feeling rather refreshed today. I thought there was a hole in my pants but I guess I had juice on my head the entire time. Very well then. Carry on."

As the soldier turned around, both Sanyu and the girl started to laugh softly.

"What are you laughing at?" the soldier asked.

"Nothing."

"Then stop talking and keep out of my way," the soldier said as he walked away. The two kids watched as the soldier reached up to the back of his head and started tasting the juice while at the same time a small hole in his pants was clearly visible.

"So who was that?" the girl asked as she stopped giggling.

"He's one of the Fire Nation soldiers occupying the town," Sanyu answered. "This town used to be a lot better than the dump it is now. It used to be one of the best trading towns in this part of the Earth Kingdom. But then they came. Each 

week they take more and more and it the town just gets worse. I tried taking some of the food to help feed those who need it, but it just isn't enough."

"Oh…" the girl said. "I wish I could help."

"Don't worry about it," Sanyu said. "It isn't your problem. But what I don't understand is why you came here? Most travelers stay away from the town now because of the Fire Nation and the forest."

"Oh, well I'm not from around here," the girl said, smiling and looking a little nervous. "I didn't know it was like this here."

"Oh ok," Sanyu said, feeling a bit suspicious. "Then where are you from?"

"Um…Rock Isle…"

Sanyu stared at her for a second. "Never heard of it," he said.

"Oh yea, it's a small little island," she said. "Not many have heard of it. But I should be going. I'll just take the corn." She reached out from under her cloak to take the two pieces of corn, but as her arm came out her cloak moved to reveal what was underneath. As the cloak moved, Sanyu noticed that she was wearing old gray clothes with many rips and scratches in them. Though he wasn't entirely sure, he thought he saw a leaf or two stuck in them. The girl quickly noticed what Sanyu was staring at and closed the cloak around her again.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean for you to see that. I must be going." She started to walk away but Sanyu quickly grabbed her arm.

"No, wait," he said. "You're traveling alone, aren't you?"

"Well, yea, but it doesn't matter. I need to go."

"Wait!" Sanyu said. "You can stay with me and my dad tonight if you want."

The girl stopped and turned around. "You would really do that for me?" she asked.

"Of course," said Sanyu. "We still are one of the nicest towns around here, even with the soldiers."

"Well, I guess I could for one night," the girl said as she turned around and walked back towards Sanyu.

"Great," said Sanyu. "Let me just pack up here and we can go to my dad's farm. Oh, and I'm Sanyu."

"I'm Kali," the girl said. "Nice to meet you."

* * *

The sun shown down upon Kali and Sanyu as they walked along the road out of town. Sanyu's farm was a little distance from the actual town, but they could already see it. It was a small farm, with a small house along the road, a barn off to the side, and a field full of corn, apple trees, and orange trees. When they got there Kali started to head over towards the house but Sanyu stopped her.

"My dad should be in the barn," Sanyu explained. "He usually runs the stand but he had to fix some broken beams. He should still be there."

Kali nodded in understanding and the two headed over to the barn. It wasn't a very big barn, obviously not intended to hold any animals of some sort. All that was inside were the various equipment used for farming, none of which Kali new the names for. In one corner stood a man hunched over some tools and a beam. He looked rather similar to Sanyu, except that he appeared much older, maybe in his forty's, and that he had a small beard and mustache on his face.

"So how did it go son?" Sanyu's father asked.

"Didn't really sell much since there wasn't much to sell, and the Fire Nation increased the taxes so anything we did make was taken," Sanyu told his father.

Sanyu's father sighed. "If they keep increasing the taxes no one will have anything left to give them," he said as he got up and turned towards the two. "And who is this?"

"Oh this is Kali," Sanyu introduced Kali. "She's traveling through the town and needed a place to stay, so I said she could stay with us for the night."

"You are ok with it, aren't you?" Kali asked.

"Of course I'm fine with it," said Sanyu's father. "It's always nice to have a guest. Where are you headed?"

"Oh I'm going to Ba Sing Se," Kali answered.

"It's a big city. Any particular reason you're heading there?"

"Well kinda," Kali answered a bit nervously. "I mean, I just thought it would be safe with the war going on and such." Before Kali could finish Sanyu's father silenced her.

"Stop talking," he said. "Someone is coming." Just then they heard a small rustling outside the barn, and it was slowly getting louder. As every second passed, the sound crept closer and closer. A shadow started to creep through the door and Sanyu quickly adjusted into a fighting stance, ready to strike at whatever was about to answer. The door slowly started to creak open and all three were completely shocked at what they saw.

Standing in the doorway all alone was a knee-high creature with a monkeylike face and a long fury tail.

"What is that thing?" asked Sanyu, letting down his guard and looking perplexed.

"Hey, it's that creature that helped me out back in the forest," said Kali.

"That thing helped you?"

"Yea," Kali said. "It helped me fight some wolves and find my way back to my camp…after it got me lost in the first place…"

"Do you know what that thing is?" Sanyu asked, turning to his father. "I've never seen anything like that."

"I'm not really sure son," Sanyu's father responded. "But it looks like it might be a money-squirrel."

"What's a monkey-squirrel?"

"There's an old story in the village of a creature called a monkey-squirrel," Sanyu's father explained. "They are said to live in the forest bordering town and are very rare. They show themselves to travelers who are lost in the woods and help guide them back to safety. I thought it was just a story until now."

""Did that story ever mention that the reason the travelers were lost was because the monkey-squirrel got them lost in the first place?" Kali asked. "'Cause that's exactly what it did to me."

"It doesn't seem too bad," Sanyu said as the monkey-squirrel climbed up onto a platform suspended over them.

"It just hasn't tried to steal your stuff yet," kali said.

"It can't be that bad," Sanyu said. Just then the monkey-squirrel knocked over a bucket from the suspended platform, completely soaking Sanyu with water.

"I warned you," Kali said while laughing, but that laughter didn't last long because just then the sound of footsteps, human footsteps, came from outside. The monkey-squirrel immediately hid in a corner as Kali, Sanyu, and Sanyu's father all went outside to see who the intruder was. Upon exiting the barn they recognized an all too familiar face from earlier that morning.

"Well how are the little brat and the old farmer doing today?" the soldier asked with a smirk on his face. "And I see you're taking in travelers too. You should be careful. One might turn up to be crazy and kill you in the night, but it wouldn't really be a lost to the town so take in whoever you want."

"What do you want?" Sanyu snapped at the soldier.

"As I said this morning, there's a rumor going around that someone is stealing food from the soldiers," the man explained, the smirk still on his face. "We did some investigating and have reason to believe it might be you, you little brat."

"So what if it was me?" Sanyu said. "What are _you_ going to do about it?"

"Keep talking and I'll make sure you're shoved in a cell with no chance at seeing daylight for the rest of your life," the soldier said, eying Sanyu.

"I'm sure you must be mistaken," Sanyu's father said. "My son would know better than to do something like that."

"You best hope so," the soldier said. "Anyways, who would want to risk their life helping some old hags and kids? If I had it my way the town would be cleared of that trash."

"And why is that?" Sanyu asked. "Just because you can't squeeze as much money out of them like everyone else?"

"Son, I think it might be best if you went inside," Sanyu's father said cautiously.

"No, I'm sick of this," Sanyu said. "I'm sick of the way they treat us and how they take everything we have but leave nothing for anyone. Well I am the one that's been taking the food, because they needed it more than you, and no matter what you do you're not going to stop me." As Sanyu finished he stomped on the ground and the earth beneath the soldier shot up, throwing the soldier on his back.

"How dare you, you little brat," the soldier said angrily as he got up. "I'll teach you to respect the Fire Nation." The soldier suddenly thrust his fist out and large fireball was shot towards Sanyu. Sanyu was about to dodge out of the way but a large rock wall formed stopping the fireball before it hit its target.

"No one hurts my son," Sanyu's father said, and the ground beneath the soldier suddenly shot up again sending him flying twice as far back as the first time. The soldier staggered back onto his feet after this harder blow, and realized the best thing to now would be to run.

"You've just made the biggest mistakes of your lives," he said, and he turned around and ran back towards town.

"What are you going to do?" Kali asked after the soldier had disappeared.

"We're going to do the only thing we can do," Sanyu's father said. "Pack your things Sanyu. We're leaving this town."

"What?" Sanyu asked, outraged. "How can you just leave? We can't let them win. We need to fight!"

"Look, son, even if we fought him and won, he would still just keep coming back with more and more soldiers till he won," Sanyu's father explained. "The only thing we can do is leave before they come back."

"But what about the people? We can't just leave them here with the Fire Nation."

"I'm sorry son, but leaving is the only thing we can do."

"Wait," Kali said suddenly. "Maybe you don't have to leave."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a plan that might help you," Kali explained. "But, I need your approval."

"Can we try out her plan dad?" Sanyu asked. "I can't just run away and leave all these people."

Sanyu's father looked back and forth between the two and thought. "Ok, we can try it," he finally said. "What's your plan?"

* * *

The wind calmly blew and sun slowly wandered down as the soldiers walked towards the little farm on the edge of town. Apparently the soldier they had angered had been in fact the captain of the soldiers in town, and as soon as he got back he rounded up seven of his best soldiers to take care of the problem. As the eight of them drew near, Sanyu could slowly start to see their outlines grow in the distance.

The plan was a rather simple one. When the soldiers arrived at the farm, Sanyu, Sanyu's father, and Kali would all suddenly attack, taking the soldiers by surprise. After the soldiers were defeated, the three would then make it appear as if they were going to kill the soldiers. That is unless the soldiers were to leave the town immediately. Sanyu wasn't entirely sure what Kali could do to help, but he trusted her and in the plan, so he crouched behind a barrel and waited for the soldiers to draw closer.

The soldiers finally arrived at the farm and marched up towards the house. The captain stuck out his hand to halt them just outside the farmhouse.

"We're here for you, farmer and brat," the captain said. "Now come out and we'll promise this won't hurt…much." But the only thing that returned to him was the faint sound of the wood creaking as the wind gently blew against the barn and farmhouse.

"Guess they fled," the captain said after a minute or two. "Take the valuables and burn down the house. I want all traces of their existence gone."

The soldiers followed orders and walked towards the barn. But as they were preparing to light it on fire something suddenly appeared out of nowhere and startled them. The monkey-squirrel had jumped out of the window in the barn and landed in front of it, surprising them all.

"What is that thing?" one of the soldiers asked as he stared at the monkey-squirrel.

"I don't know," another soldier said. "It looks like some kind of mutated rat."

"A mutated rat?" another soldier said. "Why would you think that was a mutated rat? It looks more like a miniature gofer-bear to me."

"A gofer-bear?" a fourth soldier said. "Are you crazy? Even if it was the right size it looks nothing like a gofer-bear."

"Well at least it's better than a mutated rat."

"Will you two be quiet?!" the captain yelled. "If that thing is in our way then burn it!"

The soldiers quickly obeyed the captain and prepared to fire, but as the soldiers were about to firebend at the monkey-squirrel a large rock wall suddenly shot up from the ground and slammed forward into them. The three soldiers that it hit were flung back and landed on the street, dazed and confused. Before anyone could react to this sudden attack, the ground beneath two more of the soldiers suddenly gave way, dropping and trapping them within a deep hole.

The captain and the two soldiers still standing quickly got into a fighting stance and searched around to find their attackers. Both Sanyu and Sanyu's father suddenly came out from their hiding places and each bended a large rock at the remaining soldiers. The soldiers quickly dodged the rocks and shot fireballs back at the two as each soldier took its target, but oddly enough the captain for some reason vanished from sight.

Kali watched from the side of the barn as the earthbenders and firebenders dueled, rocks and fire flying this way and that. The two soldiers who had been trapped in the hole were trying their best to climb out, but it was just too deep and the wall too smooth. The three soldiers who had been thrown back by the rock wall had managed to get to their feet again, but they were still unable to keep their balance very well.

Kali realized that the most effective thing she could do with her limited bending was to prevent these soldiers from getting back up and in the battle, so she started to head over to them. But, as Kali walked over to the soldiers, a man suddenly jumped out in front of her and blocked her path.

"Well if it isn't the little girl from earlier," the captain said. "I was wondering what happened to you." As soon as he finished talking he shot out a fireblast at Kali. Kali quickly jumped out of the way of the blast, but the captain kept firing at her and trying to hit her. Kali was easily able to avoid each attack sent at her. She had had enough practice so far that dodging attacks came naturally to her.

The three soldiers who had been knocked back finally came back to their senses, but as the prepared to help the captain out with Kali a small creature came out of nowhere and jumped on them. The squirrel-monkey kept jumping back and forth from soldier to soldier, greatly confusing them and sometimes biting them a little. The soldiers tried their best to get rid of the attacking creature but it was too swift and they were too confused to do anything. As they tried to fight back things only got worse as one of the soldiers punched another of the soldiers in the face while trying to fend off the monkey-squirrel.

As Sanyu defeated the soldier he was fighting by trapping the soldier's hands in the ground, he saw what was going on between Kali and the captain. The captain kept firing but Kali kept dodging until the captain was finally able to outsmart her. Just as Kali landed from dodging one of his attacks, the captain shot out a large blast towards her. Sanyu wanted to do something to help her, but they were too far from him and by the time he got close enough it would be too late. As the fireball flew towards Kali, something surprising happened.

Just as the fireball was about to hit her, Kali suddenly jumped up into the air and over not only the fireball, but the captain too. As soon as she landed on the ground she thrust out her foot towards the captain's legs, and a powerful gust of air shot out from it. The captain was immediately thrown forward and slammed into the barn. Both Sanyu and Kali ran over to the defeated captain and got into a fighting stance, ready to strike if he got up. Sanyu's father quickly headed over too after trapping the three dazed soldiers in the ground.

"So what are you going to do now? Kill me?" the captain asked. "You don't have the courage."

"Even if he doesn't, I certainly do," Sanyu's father said as he got into a fighting stance.

"What do you want from me?' the captain asked, suddenly looking nervous.

"Leave this town, all of you, and never comeback," said Sanyu.

The captain hesitated but finally got to his feet with his hands raised. "Fine then," he said. "Who needs this dump of a town anyways? You won't survive without the Fire Nation here to protect you." The captain turned around and ran away as fast as he could. As he ran away the monkey-squirrel threw a small orange at his head, but the captain was too nervous to protect himself.

When the captain was gone Sanyu turned towards Kali. "How did you do that?" he asked her.

"Um, do what?" she said nervously, but decided that trying to hide it now would be pointless. "In case you haven't figured it out, I'm an airbender."

"An airbender?" Sanyu asked, looking shocked. "But how?"

"I don't really know," Kali explained. "I've lived in an orphanage in the Fire Nation all my life. I'm heading to Ba Sing Se to find out more about airbending and maybe why I can airbend."

"From what I've seen you already can airbend pretty well."

"Well, yea, except I don't know how I did that," Kali said. "One second I was scared for my life and the next I was just moving like I always knew how to do that. And now that I think of it, I think I might be able to do that again easily now."

Sanyu thought for a bit before speaking again. "Well, if you're going to Ba Sing Se, maybe I could come with you," he said. "If you don't know much about the Earth Kingdom you'll need a guide."

"I really appreciate that, but what would your dad say?" Kali asked.

"What do you think dad? Can I go with her?"

Sanyu's father looked back and forth between the two and thought. "Well, son, after seeing how you handled yourself here, I think it's about time you start making these decisions on your own," he finally said. "If you want to go you can."

Sanyu's face lit up and he gave a small hug to his dad. "Just promise me one thing," Sanyu's father said. "Don't go making trouble like you did here. Sometimes it's best not to fight."

Just then the squirrel-monkey from before suddenly ran over and climbed up onto Kali's shoulder.

"Looks like he wants to go too," Sanyu's father laughed.

"Sure, he can come if he wants to," Kali said as she softly petted the squirrel-monkey.

"But what will we call him?" Sanyu asked.

"I know!" Sanyu's father suddenly said. "How about Monkeyface?" Both Kali and Sanyu stared at him in response. "Well I never was good at naming things," he said sheepishly.

"I have a name for him," Kali said. "I'll call him…Zéi."

"I like it," Sanyu said. He then glanced over at the soldiers still trapped within the ground. "What are we going to do about them?" he asked.

"I'll get some of the villagers and we can take care of that trash," Sanyu's father said. "Good luck son." And as the sun finally set in the distance, Sanyu ran inside to prepare for his journey with his new friend.

* * *

"Is that all that happened?" General Ozen asked as he paced through the room.

"Yes general," the captain said. As the captain was taking the very few men he had under his control out of town he had encountered the general. They had spent the last several minutes talking about what had happened at the farm.

"I was just barely able to escape," the captain explained. "I fought my best for the Fire Nation but they vastly outnumbered me."

"I do not care about how you fought," Ozen said to the captain. "Tell me again what you saw the girl do."

"Well, when I shot a fireball at her she somehow jumped right over me," the captain explained. "She shot out her leg at me and out of nowhere a strong wind blew me right into the barn. I've never seen anything like it."

"Neither have I, captain," Ozen said. "But I do hope to change that soon. Did you happen to see where she was headed?"

"Yes sir," the captain said. "I saw both the girl and the boy head out of town heading east. I think they were headed to Ba Sing Se."

"Just what I like to hear," Ozen said as a sinister smile came across his face. "Everything is going exactly as planned."

Chapter 5 End

* * *

Yay. Kali has a new friend and new animal companion. The gang of my story has started to grow. But of course Ozen is right on their tail. This was also the first bending battle between actual characters ( unlike Kali's daydream).

For those who wonder, this consists of 3 books. Book 1: Journey to Ba Sing Se. Book 2: Spirits of the North. Book 3: The Temple of Zelune.

Next chapter is "The General and His Son."

Avatar universe and characters belong to Mike, Bryan, and Nickelodeon. All others are made by me. Why do I always write that? lol :P


	6. The General and His Son

Sorry for such a long delay before the next chapter. I've been somewhat busy. But here it is! Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Book 1: Journey to Ba Sing Se

Chapter 6

"The General and His Son"

_Creak. Clank. Bang._ The sounds of the train echoed through the corridors and rooms as it speed across the ground on its treads. With every bump and turn the train took, objects would sway back and forth only to settle again in the exact same spot as before or be ever so slightly moved. A lone candle sat on a table in one of rooms, rocking back and forth to the movements as if in a silent dance. The small room was rather empty except for this unlit candle, the table it was rested on, and one boy who stood at the opposite end of the room.

The boy stood still in a fighting stance, ready to strike at some unseen foe. He kept his eyes always on the candle, watching it sway left to right, forward and back. For his training to work, he would have to remain completely focused upon that candle. Normally, such a thing as lighting a candle would not be that difficult, but what made this different than normal was that the wick was so small one would have to hold it steady and pay full attention to even light it with a match.

The boy had been here for quite some time, trying so hard to light the candle but each time either missing or burning the wax, both of which he was told not to do. He rather hated having to do this, for he lacked the patience needed to stay focused and wait this long. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to go on to the next part of his training until he was able to light this candle, for his master had said he needed to be more precise and that firebending was not just about raw power.

As the candle continued to stand on the table, always swaying but never falling, the boy started to move. He had done everything his master had said: watched it, predicted its movements, and figure out where to strike next. He quickly thrust his hand forward, his palm flat and the fingers facing towards the candle. But just as he started to move, the door beside him suddenly opened.

"Zin," said a man's voice.

Zin was completely caught off guard by this, and the attack faltered because of it. A small shot of orange fire burst from his fingertips, but instead of hitting the candle it hit the wall instead, quite a distance from its target. Zin quickly turned to find out who had dared enter to find a soldier standing within the doorway.

"What are you doing here?!" he shouted at the soldier. "No one interrupts me when I'm training!"

"I'm sorry Zin but your father requests your audience in the war room," the soldier said, looking a little nervous.

"Ugh, what does he want now?" Zin asked, still sounding very annoyed.

"He didn't say," the soldier answered, starting to back out of the room. "All he said is that you must go immediately."

"Fine," Zin said with a groan. "Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes."

The soldier nodded in response and quickly left the room without saying another word. Zin turned back to the candle after the soldier left, but instead of going back to his training, he shot out a large fireball that engulfed the candle, burning the wick and completely melting the wax. He quickly put his shirt back on, not caring too much about how neat it was, and headed down the hall.

Zin wasn't your typical seventeen-year-old boy. He was rather tall for his age, towering over many of the people he met. He had short black hair that he had recently cut upon entering the Earth Kingdom. His clothes weren't that of a normal Fire Nation boy's either. Instead of the usual red many citizens and soldiers wore, he wore an all black shirt, pants, and shoes. He rather liked wearing these simple clothes, for it allowed him to move more freely whenever he was in a fight.

Probably the most unusual part about him was the thin, long scar he had running down the right side of his face. It started near the top of his face, just above the right eye, and ran down to his chin in a perfectly straight line, breaking only when it crossed over his right eye and his mouth. Few knew about the origins of this strange scar, and even fewer dared talk about it, but Zin always knew. He could never forget about how he got it, and about why he should always trust what his father tells him. After a few minutes, Zin stopped in front of a metal door with a guard standing outside. The guard nodded as Zin looked at him and opened the door.

"Ozen, sir, your son is here," the guard said into the room.

"Let him in," Ozen's voice drifted out from the room, and the guard stood aside for Zin to enter.

The room was a somewhat small room, but not too small. It wasn't originally intended to be a war room, but due to the fact that Ozen would be spending much time on the train, he decided to have it converted to a room for planning. Ozen sat at the end of the large center-table looking over some maps, but stopped as soon as Zin entered. To his left stood Major Lee who was looking over the same maps Ozen had.

"What do you want?" Zin asked. "I was busy!"

"You better watch your mouth, son," Ozen said. "Remember what happened last time you acted without thinking." As Ozen said this he shot a glance towards Zin's scar.

"I'm sorry father," Zin said with a slight bow. "I didn't mean it. What do you need of me?"

"We've found the girl's trail," explained Ozen. "She left a rundown town a few days ago and is heading towards Ba Sing Se. From what our scouts have reported on her traveling, she should be stopping in a nearby town soon. We can catch her there."

"So?" Zin asked. "What do you need me for? Just take the soldiers and capture her. It's not like she can do much."

"I didn't think you would remember what I told you about her," Ozen said. "It's too dangerous to attack her. We don't know what that thing in her would do if he feels his host is endangered. But I have a plan. That is why I called you here."

"What's your plan?"

"We will stop outside of the town later today," Ozen explained. "You will head out alone. When you catch the girl alone, you will attack her and capture her."

"What? But you just said attacking her would be stupid!"

"I know that!" Ozen said. "There is more to this plan than what I've told you. Trust me Zin."

Zin stared at his father for a minute with an annoyed look on his face. "Yes, father," he finally said, and after bowing slightly turned to leave the room.

"Remember Zin, I am here to help you no matter what it may look like," Ozen said, and Zin quickly left the room.

* * *

The two ostrich-horses trotted down the road through the planes as the town in the distance grew steadily larger. Although Sanyu's father did not raise any animals, they did in fact have two ostrich-horses that would sometimes be used for transporting goods throughout town. As Kali and Sanyu were preparing to leave, Sanyu's father had insisted that they took the two animals to use as mounts, for walking to Ba Sing Se would take too long. It took a little while for Kali to get used to riding on an ostrich-horse, but after a few days she got the hang of it and only ran into a problem here or there.

As the sun reached its peak in the sky, they eventually reached the town. It was a rather small town, with a few shops, some homes, but no inn. Oddly enough, as the two headed in they noticed a large wooden water tower at the edge of the town which had a large Fire Nation emblem painted onto it.

"We should stop and get some food," Sanyu said as he inspected their supplies. They both tied up their ostrich-horses outside of a small shop, but were stopped by the shopkeeper before they could enter.

"No animals are allowed!" he said as he pointed at Zéi, who sat on Kali's shoulder.

"You sure?" Kali asked. "There shouldn't be a problem with Zéi. He wouldn't steal anything…I hope."

"I said no animals allowed!" the man said again. "That is, unless you're thinking of selling him."

"We're not selling him!" Kali told the shopkeeper.

"You sure?" the man said. "Looks like he'd make a pretty good meal there. Cook him up in a stew and add some seasoning. Oh makes my mouth water just thinking about it."

"No!" Kali said as Zéi hid behind her head. "He's not for sale and you're not eating him!"

"Then you're not coming in unless you leave him out here," the man said. Both Kali and Sanyu looked at each in hope the other had a plan.

"I'll stay out here with him," Kali told Sanyu. "You go in and get the food."

"Are you sure?" Sanyu asked. "It's your money."

"Don't worry about it," Kali said, and she handed Sanyu some of the money. "Anyways, I think he prefers me over you."

Sanyu let out a small laugh. "Well he'll just have to get used to me. I'm not going anytime soon," Sanyu said, and he turned around and entered the shop.

Kali stood outside with Zéi and the ostrich-horses as Sanyu went to get the food. It wasn't a very bustling town. A person walked by every now and then, a fire nation soldier here and there, nothing really exciting. There was one strange teenager see saw ride by on an ostrich-horse who was wearing a hat and had a large burn mark covering his left eye and ear, but Kali did not bother to figure out what had happened. As Kali looked around the town trying to find something to do, she noticed one rather odd thing.

At the end of the street she was on there stood a strange man. He was completely covered with a black cloak, with the hood set over his face. Normally Kali would wonder why this man was wearing a cloak in such warm weather, but something else about him was distracting her from that thought. The entire time she was looking at this man, she noticed he did not move, even once. What was even more disturbing was that, aside from not moving at all, this strange man appeared to be staring at her.

At first she thought she was just being paranoid, but each time she glanced over at this strange man she noticed that he had still not moved from where he was standing, and his gaze had still not changed. As Kali watched this strange man she saw him start to move. Not only was the man moving now, but he was moving towards Kali and she was not sure she wanted to know why. Fortunately for Kali as the cloaked man was walking towards her another man carrying piles of boxes which towered over his head walked straight into the cloaked man. The two immediately fell over each other as the countless boxes went flying everywhere.

"Watch where you're going!" the cloaked man yelled as he tried to get the boxes off of him.

"I'm sorry," the second man said as he tried to gather his things. "I didn't see you there."

"How can you not see me there?" the cloaked man yelled. "Are you blind or something?" Kali started to laugh a little as she watched this, but remembered what had been going on just a minute earlier. She realized that this would probably be the best time to confront this man due to the surrounding people and started to walk over towards him.

"Where are you going?" someone suddenly asked from behind her. She jumped slightly at this and turned around to find Sanyu standing behind her, his pack obviously having more in it than before.

"There's some creepy guy in a cloak over there that won't stop watching me," Kali explained. "I was just about to go find out what his problem is."

"What guy?" Sanyu asked. "I don't see anyone." Kali quickly turned around to show Sanyu what guy she was talking about, but when she looked down the road she saw that he had vanished. All that remained was the man with the boxes who was franticly trying to gather his things back up.

"But there was someone down there…" she said. "Let's just get out of here. This place is creepy."

"You change your mind about selling that animal yet?" the shopkeeper suddenly asked.

"No!"

* * *

"I was so close!" Zin said in anger as he walked through the field. "Why can't people watch where they are going?" As Zin yelled in anger at his failure he heard a soft shriek from nearby. He instantly turned towards the sound and noticed a hawk sitting on a nearby log staring at him with its large eyes.

"What are you staring at?" Zin yelled at the bird, which only tilted its head in response. Zin took a step towards it but before he could do anything else it immediately jumped up and flew over him. Unfortunately for Zin though, as the bird passed over him a small clump of droppings landed on his shoulder. Zin glanced at his shoulder for a moment before turning around and shooting a fireball at the hawk as it flew, but luckily for the bird it was just barely able to dodge it. Zin did not take any further actions however and just watched the bird as it flew away frightened but unharmed.

"There has to be some way to get that girl alone," Zin said in a calmer voice. It was just then that he noticed two people leaving the town along the road. These weren't just any people however, but were in fact the boy and the girl from earlier. He quickly started to crouch in the tall grass and follow the two, eventually reaching a small clearing where the boy and girl decided to set up camp.

Zin grew more impatient as he watched the two prepare their lunch. For a while he was uncertain of how to separate the two in order to capture the girl, but as he watched them both start to eat an idea formed inside his head. He slowly and quietly crawled through the grass towards the camp, eyeing the girl's bag in the process. As the sweet smell of the food drifted over to him, Zin's stomach gave off a low growl.

"Quiet," he whispered, though not fully understanding why. Luckily for him, neither the boy nor girl had heard him speak. As he reached the edge of the camp the smell of the food grew stronger and his belly gave off another low growl.

"I said quiet," Zin said, a little louder than before.

"Who said that?" the girl suddenly said, and Zin ducked lower into the grass hoping to not be seen.

"Who said what?" the boy asked.

"I thought I heard someone say something," the girl said. "It must have just been the wind."

Zin sighed in relief as the two people went back to eating their meal. As the boy and girl were distracted, Zin reached out his hand and grabbed the girl's pack, pulling it back to him afterwards without either of the two noticing. As Zin started to back up the girl suddenly stood up and walked over to the small cooking fire. Zin immediately stopped moving and tried his best to remain concealed within the tall grass as the girl picked up the pot of warm water next to the fire. Zin had no time to react as the girl tossed the warm water into the grass where he was hiding, drenching him in the process. Fortunately for Zin, the girl had not paid attention to where she had thrown the water, and after Zin spit out quite a mouthful of the water he quickly and silently crept away from the camp.

"Hey, where's my pack?" the girl asked as Zin hurried away.

"You sure it's gone?" asked the boy.

"Yea. It's nowhere around here."

"Well maybe you left it back in town," the boy said.

"You're probably right," the girl said. "Wait here. I'll go look for it."

* * *

Kali walked along the road back towards the town as she replayed in her head what she had done with the bag. She had found it strange that she would forget the bag, for she remembered bringing it to the camp earlier. But looking in town was the only idea she had, and she was going to try it out. Evening was getting steadily closer as she entered the town, hoping to find the bag discarded somewhere. She searched outside the shop and along the road back to camp but couldn't find it anywhere. All the while she was looking she felt that something wasn't quite right, as if see was being watched.

After retracing her steps two to three times, she finally gave up on her search rather disappointed. As she was heading back out of town she decided to look down the alleyways in the off chance that the bag might be in one of them. To her astonishment, she finally spotted the bag tucked away between two of the last buildings in the town.

She hesitated for a bit but, after deciding it would be foolish to head back without the bag, headed down the alleyway towards it. Oddly enough, the bag was almost exactly as it was last time Kali had seen it. A few things had been shifted ever so slightly, but it was almost exactly the same as before. Even as Kali searched through it she noticed that everything was still there, nothing was missing. She decided to not worry about it until later when she was back at camp with Sanyu, but as she flung the pack onto her back she heard a soft thud from behind her, as if someone was landing on the ground.

She turned around to see what was going on, and was immediately greeted by a large blast of heat and light. She was just barely able to duck as the fireball passed over her. She quickly straightened herself again to prepare for another attack and to find out who her attacker was. The man from earlier that day stood at the other end of the alleyway, his body and face still concealed under his black cloak.

"Who are you?!" Kali demanded as she caught a strange scent in the air. "And why do you smell like lunch?"

The man did not answer her however but instead proceeded to attack her. Fireball after fireball was shot at her, but although the attacks seemed rather simple they were much larger than what she had encountered before. Probably the only way she was able to dodge them was due to her airbending. Even if she didn't know too much on airbending, her fight with the captain back in Sanyu's town had taught her how to dodge attacks well enough to survive. The more she dodged the man's attacks, the more she knew that she couldn't keep this up. She had to think of some way to escape, and she had to think of it fast.

As the man kept firing at her she noticed something important. Although the man was rather swift with his attacks, he was very careless, and the more she dodged the angrier and more careless he seemed to get. In fact, if the walls of the buildings had not been made of earth they would already be completely engulfed in flames, or close to it. Kali figured the only way she could escape would be to use his temper to her advantage.

"Some fighter you are," she taunted him. "You can't even hit a girl who hardly knows how to bend."

The man kept firing, but more careless this time. Kali was easily able to dodge it and circle behind him.

"That the best you can give?" she said, watching him get angrier. The man fired at her again, but this time he didn't shoot a fireball. Instead, he shot a large burst of fire at the ground in front him, covering the alleyway ahead. Kali was just able to avoid it by using her limited airbending to jump to the roof of the nearby building.

"Here, I'll give you a target," she said, and she turned around and started waving her behind at him. The man let out a frustrated groan and shot a fireball up at her. She quickly jumped off as it came, landing at the end of the alleyway. The fireball that was shot up instead hit the top of the building where Kali had been standing and the force of the impact caused a portion of the building to crumble and tumble to the ground.

The man quickly jumped out of the way of the falling rocks, but before he could resume his attacks Kali shot a blast of air at the ground. Dust was immediately blown up adding to the dust from the destruction and preventing the man from seeing. He shot out fireballs and every direction, trying his best to hit Kali but it was too late. When the dust settled and the man could finally see again, Kali was gone.

Kali ran as fast as she could back towards the camp. She had to warn Sanyu about what had just happened. If this man was going to attack again, they had to be ready to defeat him and find out what he wanted. But as soon as she got back to the camp, she knew something was wrong. Everything was exactly the same as when she had left, but one thing was different: Sanyu was gone. She quickly searched around the campsite to find out where he had gone until she found a note.

_親愛的 __Kali,_

_我們採取了您的朋友。如果您在鎮郊外想要他讓他們自由遇見我在水塔。_

Translation:

_Dear Kali,_

_We have taken your friend. If you want him freed them meet me at the water tower on the outskirts of town._

* * *

The sky echoed with vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges as the sun started to set behind the planes. Kali quickly made her way out of the town towards the water tower. It was a rather small water tower, being just over two stories high. The tank was kept up in the air by four large wooden posts, with a few beams crisscrossing between the posts for support. The large Fire Nation emblem was painted on both sides of the tank, making it so that no matter where you stood, you would see at least a small section of the emblem. Off to the side of the tower was a small shed, made from a combination of rock and wood.

Kali stopped right next to the water tower, still staring up at it. She didn't understand why there would be one in this small town, and why it would be made of wood since most Fire Nation structures were made of metal.

"It's strange, isn't it?" a voice suddenly asked from behind her. She quickly turned around to find a man standing next to the shed. The man appeared to be in his thirty's, with black hair tied into a topknot and wearing what appeared to be high ranking Fire Nation army armor.

"Most of the Fire Nation vehicles run on hydraulics, so they construct water towers in towns throughout the colonies," the man explained. "Yet for some reason they made this one out of wood. Perhaps they just didn't think this place important enough for a metal one."

"Who are you?" Kali asked the strange man.

"So very quick to the point you are," the man said. "A quality I rather like. Well, since you asked, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ozen, a general in the Fire Nation. It's nice to finally meet you Kali."

"Where is Sanyu?" Kali demanded. Ozen gestured is hand to someone Kali couldn't see after she had spoken. Immediately, three men came out from behind the shed. Two were soldiers, who held Sanyu with his hands tied between them, and the third was the man, or apparently boy now that Kali could see his face, which had attacked her. Although Sanyu was tied up, he appeared to be almost completely unharmed except for a bit of bruising on his face. As the people stopped behind Ozen, Sanyu turned his face towards the cloaked boy.

"Why does he smell like our lunch?" he asked, but one of the soldiers pushed him from behind as an indication to be silent.

"What do you want from me?" Kali asked.

"I thought that was rather obvious after my son attacked you," Ozen smirked. "I want you. If you agree to come with me, I will let the boy go unharmed."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"There's no point in keeping a boy we have no need for," Ozen replied. "Come with me and he shall go free."

Kali hesitated, looking back and forth between Sanyu and Ozen. After a minute, Kali finally nodded. Two more soldiers came out from behind the shed and quickly moved behind Kali, tying her hands together afterwards.

"Take them both back to the train," Ozen told the soldiers.

"What?" Kali asked. "You promised to let him go!"

"I know, but I changed my mind," Ozen smirked, and then turned towards the soldiers. "Interrogate the boy once we get back to the train. He might know something."

Kali struggled as hard as she could, but it was no use. No matter how much she tried she could not break free from the rope that bound her. The soldiers started to drag both her and Sanyu away, and no matter how much the two tried they could not escape. All of a sudden a small creature jumped down from the water tower and onto Ozen's head. Zéi jumped from person to person, messing up Ozen's hair, pushing down the helmets of the soldiers over their eyes, and causing Zin to fall over.

After Zéi had hit the last soldier, he then jumped onto Sanyu's back and proceeded to chew on the ropes that bound Sanyu. Ozen quickly made to grab the monkey-squirrel, not wanting to harm Sanyu in case he knew something, but Zéi jumped out of the way. Although Zéi had not been able to chew all the way through the ropes, it was still enough for Sanyu to free himself. As Sanyu broke what remained of his bonds, Zéi started climbing all over Ozen in hopes of somehow beating him, but although Ozen couldn't catch Zéi, the only thing that it was doing was distracting him.

"Get this thing off me you morons!" Ozen yelled as he tried to grab the animal. Sanyu ran over to Kali and untied her as Zin rushed over to stop them. Sanyu prepared himself to fight Zin, but Kali stopped him immediately.

"We don't have to worry about him," Kali taunted Zin. "He couldn't even hit me when I was standing still." Zin let off an angry groan at this and shot a fireball towards Kali. She quickly dodged out of the way as it came, and instead of it hitting her it hit one of the four posts of the water tower.

"Get the other side!" Kali told Sanyu. Sanyu quickly listened, using his earthbending to bend a rock through the pillar. With two of the pillars broken the tower was unable to keep itself up, and started to fall over. Kali and Sanyu quickly ran out of the way, Zéi following immediately after. The tower fell to the ground, the tank bursting as soon as it hit. The water washed out as soon as the tank burst and pushed the confused and angry men away from where Kali and Sanyu were.

As the men were dazed, confused, and completely soaked, Kali and Sanyu ran away from there as fast as they could. Luckily for them they were able to get to the camp and get theirs things before anyone had started to give chase.

* * *

Major Lee walked down the corridor of the train, after finally having finished the cleaning. It had taken him hours, but everything was just spotless now, just as he was ordered. Major Lee did not particularly like this job, but he was often given such jobs by Ozen as a way to keep him busy and so Lee had gotten used to it. As he headed back towards his quarters, he instantly stopped in one of the hallways as a look of annoyance appeared on his face. In the hall he was walking through there were muddy footprints from what appeared to be several different people. Normally he would not have cared too much, but after being given to job of keeping the train clean seeing such a thing was rather annoying. Major Lee followed the footprints through the hall, ready to give the perpetrators of this act a piece of his mind.

After walking for quite a bit, he finally came upon the room where the footprints stopped and barged right in. His sight was immediately confronted by Ozen, Zin, and few other soldiers, all covered from head to foot in mud.

"What happened?" Major Lee asked. "Where's the girl?"

"She escaped," Ozen said while glancing at his son. "Some people underestimated her. It won't happen again."

End Chapter 6

* * *

Not entirely my favorite chapter, but it's better than what it was before. Hope you enjoyed.

Next Chapter: The Airbender Artifacts

* * *


	7. The Airbender Artifacts

Sorry for not posting in a while. Been doing other stuff. But here is the next chapter, much longer than the others. Enjoy :D

* * *

Chapter 7

"The Airbender Artifacts"

It was a bright and beautiful morning as Kali and Sanyu sat in their camp with their recently cooked breakfast. The two ostrich horses stood along the side of the camp munching on some fruits as Zéi sat on a branch overhead the group, eating some freshly gathered nuts. Sanyu was trying his best to enjoy the food, but unfortunately for both Kali and Sanyu, neither one really knew how to cook besides basic meals. Although the food was not terrible, it wasn't exactly great either.

"It can't be that bad Kali," Sanyu said after looking up and noticing Kali hadn't touched her food.

"Huh?" Kali asked. It took her a few seconds to realize Sanyu had talked. Sanyu realized that she had in fact been gazing at the treetops for quite some time, not saying anything or moving much.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Kali asked.

"Well, you haven't touched your food, or really moved at all for a little while," Sanyu explained.

"I'm fine, nothing to worry about," Kali said, as she forced some of the food into her mouth to appear that everything was ok.

"I can tell something is wrong Kali," Sanyu said. "You can trust me. That's why we're traveling together." Kali sat for a few seconds, still trying to pretend she was eating, but then just swallowed it and let out a small sigh.

"It's not that I don't trust you," she said. "It's just that I think it's a bit silly."

"What is?"

"Well, I've been thinking about some things," she explained. "It's obvious I'm an airbender, or I wouldn't have been able to do some of those things. But…" Kali shifted her gaze back up at the treetops again. "I just don't understand how it is possible. All the Air Nomads were killed, so how did I survive?"

"Your grandparents could've just fled," Sanyu said. "It wouldn't be that hard."

"I know but…" Kali looked towards the ground. "It's just, the memories I have of when I was younger just don't seem right. Some of these memories, they don't take place in the Fire Nation at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the more I think about it, the more it seems that when I was a baby I was at the Air Temples when the Air Nomads were still there," Kali explained.

"But how is that possible?" Sanyu asked. "The Air Nomads were killed a hundred years ago."

"I know…" Kali said. "It's just too confusing. None of this makes sense, but at the same time it seems to fit perfectly." Kali let out a soft sigh. "But I don't know why it matters anyways. I don't know anything about the Air Nomads. I don't even look like one," she said as she glanced down at the old torn and gray clothes she wore. Sanyu sat for a minute staring at her, thinking about what she had said.

"I think I know something that might cheer you up," he finally said.

"What?"

"How about the next town we go into we can try to find you some new clothes," Sanyu explained. "You might not look like an Air Nomad, but at least it's better than what you're wearing." Kali thought about this for a few seconds, and then a small smile came across her face.

"Ok," she said. "I'm up for a little shopping. Never shopped before so maybe it will be fun."

* * *

Zin sat upon his bed within his room as the train sped through the Earth Kingdom. He had been going over what had happened through his head ever since he had woken up. How could he, a firebender who had some of the best teachers, who had been training for years, fail to a girl who hardly knew how to bend? He remembered how angry his father was with him, but luckily Zin was not punished. His father knew that it would be best focusing on the girl, but unfortunately for him no one had seen the girl or her friend since they escaped.

Zin continued to sit trying to figure out what he had done wrong to cause him to fail when something finally came to him. Zin glanced over at the candle on the nearby table and remembered what his teacher had said to him.

"Patience; discipline; they are the key to being a good firebender," his master had told Zin. "Overpowering your enemy is sometimes a good course to take, but most times it's best to out skill them."

"But almost everyone I talk to tells me firebending is all about raw power," Zin had protested. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because I am your master, Zin," his master had said. "Firebending is not all raw power, and I am here to show you that."

Zin suddenly stopped his train of thought and jumped to his feet as he finally realized the train was slowing down. He quickly darted out the door and down the hallway. If they had found the girl then he would be able to fix his mistake and make his father proud. As Zin rounded a corner he bumped into his father who was heading in the other direction.

"Why are we slowing down?" Zin asked immediately. "Did you find the girl?"

"Usually when you bump into someone you say 'excuse me,'" Ozen said, giving his son an annoyed look and walking around him. "And no, we haven't found her yet."

"Then why are we stopping?" Zin demanded.

"We are nearing one of the Earth Kingdom towns occupied by the Fire Nation," Ozen explained, not looking back at his son as he walked down the hallway. "We need to resupply before entering enemy territory."

"What?!" Zin shouted. "We can't do that! We'll lose the girl!"

"And what would you have us do?" Ozen asked as he stopped walking. "Chase after her and hope she won't get away again?"

"Of course," Zin replied.

"And what should happen if we fail? We'll be out of supplies and would need to come all the way back to restock. That gives more than enough time for her to flee and for us to lose track of her. You never think these things through, and that is why you failed at capturing her. Now head back to your quarters. I have work to do."

Zin was about to argue back, but decided against it and silently walked away.

* * *

It was just after noon as Kali and Sanyu reached the next town. Kali wasted no time in heading to the nearest clothing store. She was eager to finally be able to wear something more suited for her and to discard the ragged garments she had been forced to wear at the orphanage. Kali had been lucky on her choice of stores, and was marveled at how many different types of clothing there could be. She went through every aisle and every self picking out garments she thought might fit her.

After having decided on quite a few different looks, she headed towards one of the booths that lined the back wall. Sanyu and Zéi waited outside as Kali entered one of the booths, hoping to find something that would make her feel more like herself. The first of her outfits was rather plain. It consisted of simple, light green pants and shirt, with a sash tied over the shirt at the waist like a belt. The shoes were a darker green than the rest of the outfit but very simple and plain.

"Well, it's ok…" Kali said. "But I feel like a peasant or farmer. I'll keep looking." She took another one of the outfits in the pile next to Sanyu and headed back into the booth. It took quite a while to change into this outfit because of how complex it was, but she eventually came out of the booth a few minutes later, though barely.

This outfit was a lot more complex than the first had been. It completely covered her, head to toe, in thick metal armor. Spikes shot out from the armor all along her arms and legs, turning even a slight swing of her arm into a deadly attack. Upon her head she wore a helmet, which covered everything except for two slits for her eyes, which gave her a very menacing look. On the top of the helmet two spikes shot out, almost like horns ready to impale the first thing they came in contact with.

"Well, it'll be hard for me to get hurt…" Kali said as she swung one of her arms into the nearby wall. "But it's kind of hard to move in." She tried to take a step forward, but instead fell flat on her face causing the store to rumble with the weight. "Scratch that. It's really hard to move in."

Sanyu quickly bent down to help her back up, but it wasn't such an easy task. Eventually, after much struggling and falling repeatedly, Kali was able to get back into the booth. It took her even longer to get the suit off than it had to put it on, but Kali eventually managed to rip it off. The next outfit she tried on was a lot easier than the last because it had much fewer pieces, but perhaps too few.

"Um…I don't really like this one…" she shouted out to Sanyu from within the booth.

"Well what does it look like?" Sanyu asked. "Let me see."

"Um, I'd rather not," she responded. "It's a bit too revealing."

"It can't be that bad," Sanyu said as he headed towards the booth door. "Let me see."

"No wait!" Before Kali could say another word Sanyu opened the door and looked inside. His mouth instantly gaped as a dazed look came over his face. It took him a few seconds, when Kali finally threw the first outfit at him, for him to come to his senses. He immediately ran out the booth and shut the door behind him, making sure that it was closed.

"Ok, that's a bit too revealing," he said while leaning against the closed door. "You should keep looking."

Kali continued on for quite a while, trying on almost what seemed like every piece of clothing in the store. But unfortunately, when they finally walked out of the store later that day, they were empty-handed.

"We'll try another place," Sanyu reassured Kali. "They've got to have something good in this town."

'Well, it's not that these clothes aren't good…" Kali said, staring slightly at the ground as they walked. "It's just…they're not really good for me."

"What do you mean?"

"All these clothes, they make me feel like some earthbender or mercenary or something," Kali said. "But, none of them make me feel like myself. None of them make me feel like an airbender."

"Airbender?"

Both Kali and Sanyu stopped and turned around to see who this intruder was. Behind them stood an elderly man with a rather shaggy beard and a cane. He quickly limped up to them without even introducing himself and stared Kali in the eyes.

"Did you say airbender?" the man asked.

"Well yea but we're not—"

"You want to know about the tale, don't ya?" the man asked, interrupting Kali.

Kali and Sanyu both glanced at each other. "What tale?" Sanyu asked.

"Well if it's the tale you want to know about then I'm the guy to talk to," the old man said. "You see that there building in the hills?" Kali and Sanyu quickly turned around to see where the man was pointing to. Off in the distance set into the hill was what appeared to be a large metal building. From what the two could see, it seemed to be abandoned, maybe even falling apart.

"That there is an old Fire Nation base," the old man continued. "Used to be full of soldiers a while back."

"What happened to it?" Kali asked.

"About fourteen years ago some crates came through here on the way to the Fire Nation full of airbender artifacts. Gliders, clothes, scrolls, and stuff I don't even know what to call. They were kept up there for a few days so the soldiers could rest. Well, when they were getting ready to leave they noticed something shocking: some of the artifacts were missing! I'm not sure what, maybe some map or something, but the important thing is that they were gone!

"Well, the soldiers searched throughout the entire base but they couldn't find any trace of the missing artifacts. Instead they found something much worse." The old man suddenly stopped talking and glanced around. He leaned in close to the two before speaking again: "Airbender ghosts. Chased all the soldiers right out of the building. They fled town and never came back. Those artifacts are still up there, waiting for someone foolish enough to go get em."

"What's going on here?" a voice suddenly intruded. Kali and Sanyu looked around the elderly man to see an elderly woman standing in the doorway of one of the buildings. "Are you blabbing about those stupid stories again?" she asked.

"They aren't stupid!" the man retorted. "They're one hundred percent true!"

"Everyone knows it was a cave in that chased those soldiers out," the woman said. "Not some stupid ghosts. And there are no artifacts still in there. They took everything."

"Well who asked you? Maybe if I'm lucky the ghosts will come and take your voice away. Then maybe I could get some silence!"

"Go crawl up in a hole and die you old geezer!" the old woman yelled before turning around and heading back into the building.

"Not before you, you old hag!" the old man yelled after her.

"Wow you two must really hate each other," Sanyu said.

"Hate each other?" the old man repeated, seemingly outraged. "What are you talking about? That's my wife! Speaking of which, I'm late for dinner." Without saying even as much as a goodbye, the old man turned around and walked into the same building the woman had emerged from a few minutes earlier.

"Well that was weird," Sanyu said after a few moments of silence. He turned to Kali expecting a reply but instead saw a smile slowly creep across her face. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" he said nervously.

"We're going to get those artifacts," Kali said, the smile still wide on her face.

"But you heard what he said," Sanyu protested. "All of them were taken when the Fire Nation left."

"We don't know that for sure," Kali said. "The man was convinced they were still there. And if they are this can really help me."

"But if they aren't we could risk a lot," Sanyu said. "Remember, we have a Fire Nation General chasing us. If we waste too much time they could catch up to us and I don't want to know what will happen then."

"I suppose you're right," Kali said with a sigh as she looked up at the abandoned base. "We better get going. It's starting to get dark."

* * *

Zin lay on his bed staring at the ceiling as he had been all day since the train had stopped. He couldn't believe that he was stuck here wasting time when he could be out there searching for the girl and proving he was worth something. He didn't want to spend time in some stupid Earth Kingdom town and had remained in his room the entire time, and he planned to stay there until they left. Well that was until a knock came from the other side of his door.

"What do you want?" Zin shouted through the door. "I'm busy!"

"Ozen has requested you to leave the train for the remainder of our stay," a voice said from the other side.

"What?!" Zin shouted as he jumped to his feet. "Why?"

"Ozen has asked us to clean the train during our stay, and he doesn't wish for you to be on board while we are cleaning," the voice explained.

Zin was about to protest saying that he wouldn't leave the train despite who gave the orders, but a thought suddenly occurred to him and his hand crept up to his scar. "All right," he eventually said, though very displeased. He flung on his cloak and slammed open the door, throwing the soldier behind it to the floor. Zin walked past without even a glance at the soldier and headed out towards the town.

Zin really didn't care enough to take in the scenery of the town, probably due to the fact that he was being forced to come here. All he cared about was finding some place he could stay and maybe eat where he would go almost completely unnoticed. Eventually, after quite a bit of searching, he found such a place. It was a small building situated on the corner of two streets. Zin walked inside and was immediately greeted by the smells of many different types of food and drinks.

The tavern gave off a gloomy mood, as if this was the place all those who did not want to be seen ended up. There were people everywhere at tables and counters, but due to the dim lighting it was rather hard to make out any distinct facial features unless one was close up. Zin headed through the bar searching for a place where he could remain unseen for the remainder of his stay until he finally decided on a small empty table in the back.

He stayed there for quite a while, doing his best to go unnoticed, but it was getting harder and harder over time. The smells of the many different kinds of food continued to drift over to him, teasing him and making him hungrier by every second that passed. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore, and he had to have something, anything, to satisfy his hunger. He headed up towards the front, weaving through the tables and people until he came to the front counter.

Surprisingly enough, despite the number of people within the building there were only a few that were actually ordering things. As Zin had watched from his table, he noticed that people only trickled up little by little, not wanting to risk a large crowd. In front of him stood a young girl, maybe even the same age as Zin, but he was unable to tell due the dim lighting and the fact that she was facing away from him. He waited for her to finish, growing more and more impatient by the second. In fact, because of how impatient he had gotten, when the girl finally got her order and was turning around to leave Zin did not waste time in trying to step around her and to the counter.

Unfortunately it didn't go quite as Zin planned. As he stepped forward to walk around her, she was also trying to do the same, and this caused both of them to collide. The tray the girl was carrying was instantly squished against her chest, covering her front in the food she just bought a minute earlier. Zin did not get out of this so easy either, as the drink sitting atop the try tilted towards him and covered his front with its contents.

"Hey! Watch where you're going you jerk1" the girl shouted at Zin. "I just bought that!"

"You bumped into me you stupid girl!" Zin argued. "_You_ watch where _you're_ going!"

"This was your fault, not mine!" the girl protested. "And you're going to repay me for this or else!"

"Or else what? You'll slap me?" Zin insulted as he gave the girl a small push. She stumbled back a bit but quickly caught her balance, but not before she had stepped into the lamplight which showed her features quite clearly.

"You!" Zin said, after finally realizing who she was and stepping into the light too.

"Well look who it is," the girl said, after seeing who Zin was. "Never expected to see you here brother. Did dad finally throw you out on the street?"

"No, I'm here with him!" Zin told his sister. Now that she was in the light it was much easier to make out her appearance. She was almost as tall as Zin, but came up just a bit short due to Zin's unusually tall stature. She had gold eyes normal to someone of Fire Nation heritage, with shoulder length hair that curved ever so slightly at the end. She wore a short-sleeved red shirt covered by a black and gold stripped vest which only hooked together once in the area near her belly. Her pants were simple too, being a dark maroon that matched her shirt with a few black and gold strips running along the legs.

"Let me guess, dad is still more interested in that stupid orphan than he is about finding mom," the girl said.

"That girl is an airbender, and she is the key to finding mom!" Zin argued.

"You actually believe that nonsense?" the girl asked. "Don't you get it already? Dad lied. He doesn't care about mom, you, me, or anyone. This girl has nothing to do with finding mom and you're wasting your time."

"He cares about us and would do anything to protect us!" Zin protested. "Maybe if you didn't betray him he would be looking for you too!"

"Oh right, and it was the Earth Kingdom that started the war, not the Fire Nation," the girl said sarcastically. "He's just keeping you around to use you and then get rid of you when he doesn't need you anymore. You're just too stupid and weak to figure that out on your own." She turned around and started to walk away from her brother. "I'm out of here," she said. "This is just wasting time and I'm still hungry."

"If you think I'm so weak then maybe you should fight me so I can prove you wrong!" Zin said as the girl walked away.

The girl stopped in her tracks and glanced over her shoulder at Zin. "Is that a challenge?" she asked mockingly.

"Yes," Zin said. "I challenge you, Rose, to an Agni Kai."

"You really can't be that stupid, can you brother?" Rose said with a small laugh in her voice. "You've never beaten me in a fight before. There's no way you'll win."

"We'll see about that," Zin said. "We'll do it right now outside."

"We'll fight tonight," Rose said. "I still haven't eaten and I think you forgot that I get to choose when and where we fight." Rose turned around and headed for the door. "Edge of town after dark. Try not to chicken out." She walked out the door as Zin stared after her, anger showing rather obviously in his face.

"You going to buy something or not?" asked the guy at the counter behind Zin.

"Yea," Zin said, turning around to face the man. "Give me whatever she had."

* * *

The wind blew gently and the stars glistened as the twilight sky shown over the land. The large metal building loomed over the land, casting an eerie shadow across the ground. It was a rather old, rundown building due it being abandoned for almost fourteen years. Though it was quite easy to see that it was rundown from the outside, it was difficult to tell how rundown it was due to most of it being built inside the hill. Kali stood outside the building, gazing up at the structure and trying to bring up the courage to step inside.

Although she had told Sanyu that she would forget about the airbender artifacts, Kali still could not resist coming here to see if they really existed. After Sanyu had fallen asleep she left the camp and quietly headed towards the old Fire Nation base. She still wasn't quite sure what she would find here or how to even find it for that matter, but she knew that she had to at least try. Kali continued to walk up towards the large building wondering what would be inside when suddenly she heard a ruffle in the bushes nearby.

"Who's there?" she said as she turned towards the bushes. For a few moments nothing happened, but as Kali started turn away something suddenly darted out of the bush. Kali stumbled back onto the ground as she was caught off guard as Zéi ran up her arm and sat on her shoulder.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do," Kali said as she looked at Zéi. Zéi's head and ears sagged a bit in response but perked upward again when a smile appeared on Kali's face.

"It's ok," she said as she petted his head. "I know you didn't mean it. And now I get some company."

Kali walked up the front path towards the entrance as Zéi huddled on her shoulder. As the two neared the building it was evident as to how far into disrepair it was. The metal of the walls was so rusted it appeared as if the building was hardly holding itself together. Holes had appeared within the walls with small pieces of metal falling off bit by bit as the wind blew through. Even the door felt like it was ready to fall off its hinges, or completely shatter on the spot, as Kali entered.

"So what took you so long?" a voice suddenly said as Kali closed the door. Kali immediately jumped as she heard the voice and fell backwards into the door. Unfortunately for her the door was not nearly able to support to her weight and broke off its hinges on the impact.

"Oh sorry," Sanyu said as he got up with a torch in his right hand.

"I'm ok," Kali said, but just as she finished talking a large piece of the wall broke off and fell on top of her. "Ok, not so much now."

It took a few minutes, but Sanyu, with some help from Zéi, was able to clear the debris off Kali and get her in a sitting position. As Kali sat rubbing her head Sanyu crouched down to see if she was hurt.

"Everything ok?" he asked sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," Kali said as she got up. "Just please remind me next time it's Scare Kali Day."

"What?"

"Never mind," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"You really thought I would believe you wouldn't come up here?" Sanyu said jokingly. "I never went to sleep. When you got up and left I just followed you."

"You didn't have to do this Sanyu," Kali said with a smile on her face. "There's probably nothing in here to worry about."

"I just wanted to make sure that you would be ok," Sanyu explained. "I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you and I wasn't there to help."

"Well then let's stop wasting our time here," Kali said. "We have some artifacts to find."

As Sanyu held up the torch above his head the two headed down into the base, through the hallways that twisted and turned everywhere, or just continued straight on into the darkness as if disappearing into nothingness. Shortly after entering, the metal floors and ceiling disappeared and were replaced by packed earth indicating that they were descending into the mountain. Oddly enough, although the floor and ceiling turned to earth the walls still remained fully metal.

"This place looks really old," Sanyu said as he looked around. "I'm surprised it's still holding itself together. Maybe we should find a safer way to go through."

"It doesn't look too bad," Kali said, glancing over her shoulder as she walked. "Down here hasn't rusted as much, and if anything happens you can still earthbend us out." But just as Kali finished that sentence the floor below her gave way. As soon as the ground broke Zéi jumped off of Kali's shoulder and landed on the floor next to Sanyu. Kali wasn't able to respond quickly enough and started to plummet towards the darkness below, but luckily for her Sanyu had seen it coming a second earlier.

Sanyu quickly responded, moving his body and bending some of the earth in the floor surrounding the hole to just barely catch Kali. She landed hard on the platform Sanyu had bended out, but it was greatly softer than what it would have been if Kali had continued to fall through the hole.

"Are you ok?" Sanyu asked as stepped down to help his friend up. But Kali wasn't paying attention to what he was saying because she was too busy looking down the hole. Below the hallway the two were in lay another hallway, almost identical to the one above in direction and size, except for one key element. While the metal walls of the hallway they were currently in were plain, simple, and flat, the walls of the hallway below were covered with decorations and designs giving the impression that it was of some great importance.

"Can you make a stairway down there?" Kali asked Sanyu.

"What?"

"That hallway looks really important," Kali explained. "It probably leads to where the artifacts are."

After Sanyu had helped Kali up and made sure she wasn't hurt he bended up the ground from the hall below into steps. The two descended down towards the level below and continued their journey for the artifacts. Surprisingly, although the only difference between the hall they had left and the hall they were in now was the wall design, this current hall felt much more ominous and disturbing than the last.

But with each step Kali took down the hall she felt closer and closer to the goal which she desired to reach so much. The more that they walked, the more anxious she got as she felt they were nearing their target with every step. She was so anxious that as they reached the next corner Kali was almost certain that around the other side lay the treasure the two had come here for. But as they rounded the corner and she saw what lay there her heart immediately sank. The entire hallway ahead of the two was completely blocked by a cave in. Enormous stones obstructed the way ahead, making it impossible to pass through. Kali walked up towards the pile of stones and inspected it, then turned around to face her friend.

"Think you can clear the way?" she asked. Sanyu walked up to the stones next to Kali and placed his hand upon them. He stood inspecting for a few moments with his eyes closed, looking as if he was trying to sense the rock.

"I'm not too good at this," he said sheepishly. "But, if I'm right, this is supporting the entire ceiling here. If I try to move these the whole ceiling might collapse on us."

"We already came this far," Kali said as she let out a frustrated groan. "There has to be some way around this."

"Sorry but I don't think there's anything I can do," Sanyu said. Kali leaned up against the wall trying to think of something, anything, to do but nothing came to her. They had not seen any doorways or other hallways on their way down so there didn't appear to be any other way around this blockade. She eventually became frustrated and due to her frustration banged her fist against the metal wall she leaned upon.

"Owwww," she said as she waved her hand in pain. "Ok, punching a metal wall is not a good idea."

Unfortunately things were going to get worse than she anticipated. The wall shook quite a bit as soon as Kali slammed her fist on it, with the noise echoing throughout the hall. It had taken a few moments but shortly after cracks started to form in the ceiling above the two and small stones started to fall down. Before Kali and Sanyu could react the entire ceiling started to crumble down upon them. As the ceiling fell down upon the two, the floor beneath them instantly opened up and Kali, Sanyu, and Zéi fell into the hole on to what appeared to be rock slide tunneling down into the earth. Down and down the two went just barely able to see from the flickering torchlight until they were finally spewed out onto a hard rock floor.

"Thanks for saving us Sanyu, but do you think you could have made the landing a bit softer?" Kali asked sarcastically. She slowly got up, making sure she wasn't hurt in the process, and looked around at where they had landed. They were in a large room, apparently very deep underground due to how far they fell. It appeared to be about two stories tall and spanning almost twice as long. It had the same metal wall, earth floor and ceiling makeup as the walls had been, except for a small hole in the metal from which the tunnel had spit them out. About one story off the ground a metal walkway was attached to the wall, spanning the outline of the room. What was probably the eeriest aspect of this room was that, although they appeared to be the only beings present, the large torches that spanned the walls, both at the first story and second story, were lit with a dim light.

"Um, Kali," Sanyu started to say as he slowly got up and stared around the room in awe. "I didn't do that."

"What?" Kali asked in shock. "How could anyone else have done that? We're the only ones here."

"I don't know, but this is starting to get creepy. I'm starting to think we shouldn't have come here."

"We can't leave yet Sanyu," Kali protested. "We've come too far to turn back now. And look." Sanyu quickly turned to see Kali pointing down towards the other side of the room. Along the wall on the opposite end of the room stood a large metal door, closed shut to hide what was inside. About halfway up the door a large dragon's head was shaped into the metal, surrounded by a majestic pattern.

"If that isn't it, then we must be pretty close," Kali said as she started walking the span of the room towards the door. But as Sanyu quickly followed Kali towards the door they both were completely unaware of the large figure that had appeared behind them. A figure which appeared to be entirely made of stone…

* * *

The moon shown down upon the town as Zin walked towards the outskirts. He was not sure where they were supposed to fight because he had only been told to meet at the edge of town. As he headed towards the outskirts of the town, he noticed something rather odd. Slightly off from the side of town within the tall grass there appeared to be a rather large clearing. As Zin moved towards it, he was surprised to see that this odd clearing was about the size of one of the buildings in town, and odder still it appeared to be in the shape of a rectangle. As he inspected this area he noticed that in addition to it being a perfect rectangle it was also very flat. He knew this must have been designed for some purpose but what that purpose was he could not figure out.

"Thought you weren't going to show up," said a female voice from behind. Zin immediately turned around on the spot to see Rose standing right behind him.

"What is this place?" Zin demanded.

"It's a fighting arena," Rose said as she walked around Zin. "I thought that was kind of obvious. People and soldiers in this town use it to train or fight duels. Thought it would be a good place for us to have an Agni Kai."

"Well what are you waiting for?" Zin said. "Get this started so I can beat you!"

"You were always so impatient," Rose said as she walked onto the end of the clearing. "That's why you never beat me."

"I would've beaten you last time."

"And then you fell off the platform and into a cart full of egg custard tart," Rose said with a smirk. "Too bad too."

"Yea, because I would've beaten you if the duel continued," Zin said.

"Oh no, I was talking about the egg custard tart," Rose said. "That stuff's good. You know how much I like foreign food."

"Stop talking and let's start this duel," Zin said impatiently as he headed towards the opposite side of the clearing, immediately getting into a fighting stance as he arrived. As Zin showed he was obviously ready, Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out a small hourglass.

"When this runs out we begin," she said, turning it over to allow some of the sand to fall towards the other side. When enough of it had fallen, she turned it back over again and placed it on the ground. The two watched intensely as the sand trickled down through the tiny hole and into the bottom. What angered Zin quite a bit was that Rose seemed to be taking this whole fight lightly, as if it was nothing, but he will prove her wrong. He knew he would win.

And then the sand ran out. Zin didn't wait one bit before attacking. He instantly shot forward sending a fire blast in Rose's direction. Rose immediately reacted by ducking and rolling out of the way as if it was nothing. Zin kept shooting out blast after blast towards Rose but none of them hit for she was able to anticipate each one. With each blast that Rose dodged, the angrier Zin got.

"Why won't you fight back?!" he yelled at her.

"I've fought you enough times to know I don't need to," Rose explained. "You'll just keep trying to hit me carelessly and get tired, and then I can just push you over."

"You think I'm so predictable?" Zin asked. "Take a look at this." Zin shot forward again, but instead of sending a blast at Rose like he had been doing so far, he instead aimed his attack at the ground. His fight with Kali had taught him this move, and he was slowly starting to realize how useful it might be. Immediately the ground ahead of him was washed over by a wave of fire, traveling away from him and heading towards Rose. Although she was not expecting an attack like this, she was still able to react in time and jump up and over the wave before it reached her. Unfortunately she wasn't so lucky when she landed.

As Rose's feet hit the ground, Zin shot another fire blast at her without hesitation. Caught off guard from the wave Zin had just sent out, she wasn't able to avoid the entire blast. She dodged out of the way of the blast, just barely able to keep her balance as the edges of her clothes were singed.

"I see you've learned some new tricks," she said. "So have I." As Rose regained her balance, she finally struck back at Zin. Instead of using the aggressive fire blasts that her brother was attacking with, Rose instead attacked in a somewhat different manner.

Rose quickly slashed her arm upwards in Zin's direction, sending a thin but strong line of fire towards Zin. Zin was easily able to dodge for it was not too wide, but Rose kept sending these strips of fire towards Zin. What made it hard for Zin to avoid these was not that they were large, for although they were long they were also rather thin. Instead, what made it hard for him to avoid these attacks was that Rose kept sending them towards him and at different angles. He was able to dodge many of them but a few of them still cut across the edges of his body.

Zin knew that he couldn't keep this up for he was getting rather tired so as he dodged the latest strip he shot out a fire wave towards Rose. She was barely able to dodge it but instead of attacking again Zin ran up towards her and aimed a close up blast towards the tip of her head. Caught off guard and off balance she was just barely able to avoid the blast, but because she hadn't regained her footing she stumbled and landed flat on her back. As soon as she fell Zin ran up towards her and prepared to claim his victory. Unfortunately for Zin, Rose was just able to recover fast enough to strike back.

As Zin ran up towards Rose's fallen body, she quickly adjusted all her weight to her hands and spun her legs around her while hitting Zin's ankles in the process. The impact caused him to quickly lose his footing and fall over as well. Rose immediately jumped back up and regained her stance, and before Zin could even attempt to get back up she was standing over him with her fist aimed at his face.

"You are getting better," Rose said as she lowered her fist and reached out her hand to help her brother up. "But I still win again."

Instead of taking Rose's hand Zin batted it out of the way and got up on his own. "You got lucky," he said, brushing himself off. "I'll win next time."

"Not if you don't realize that being aggressive isn't the best thing to do," Rose said. "I'm starting to think it's never going to get through that head."

"Just go," Zin said as he started to walk away. "I need to get back to the train so dad and I can go back to trying to find mom. I don't think he would want a traitor like you coming."

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure," a voice suddenly said from the edge of the clearing. Zin and Rose immediately turned in the direction to see Ozen walk up towards them.

"Excellent fight," he said to Rose. "You are becoming quite skilled."

"What do you want?" Rose snapped at her father. "Come to tell me some more lies so I'll do everything you say?"

"Oh no, my daughter," Ozen said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here to ask for your help."

"I'm not going to help someone like you," Rose said, pushing his hand off her shoulder. "Just leave me alone so I can find mom."

"But that is exactly what we are doing," Ozen told Rose. "The girl, Kali, is the key to finding you mother. If we can catch her we will know how to get to your mother."

"How could some girl help us find mom?" Rose asked.

"There is something inside of her," Ozen explained. "Something powerful. And if we can get that power out of the girl, then we use it to find your mother."

"And then what? Use it to rule the world?"

"All I care about is finding your mother," Ozen said. "You have my word that it is the only use the power will see in my hands."

Rose hesitated before speaking again, not sure about what to think. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked.

"I love your mother, and I will do anything to find her," Ozen said. "You two and she are all that I care about."

Rose stood staring at her father but did not answer. Although her doubts were big, she could still not resist the chance that he could be telling the truth. "Fine," she eventually said. "What do you want me to do?"

* * *

As Kali and Sanyu headed towards the closed door, they were completely unaware of the shadowy figure that had appeared behind them. In fact it would have been quite some time before they would have noticed it if it wasn't for Zéi. As Sanyu and Kali headed towards the door Zéi, who was back on Kali's shoulder, suddenly turned around and let out a loud shriek. Kali and Sanyu immediately turned around to see what the problem was and were shocked at what they saw.

Walking towards them from the other side of the room was what appeared to be a very large man. What was more shocking was that this man was made completely out of stone from head to foot. The stone man moved towards them at a surprisingly fast pace and Sanyu and Kali had barely any time at all to prepare as the figure closed the distance between it and them. Before the two could realize it the stone man was right in front of them and he wasted no time in attacking. He immediately swung his arm out at Kali, throwing her into the air towards the side of the room. Luckily for her she was able to land without much harm due to her airbending.

"How many times am I going to fall on my butt today?" Kali said sarcastically as she got up.

As soon as Kali was flung away the stone man focused on Sanyu. The stone man swung towards Sanyu but he was able to block it by bending a wall in front of him. Unfortunately, the stone man easily broke through the wall with another swing of its fist. This continued, with the stone man sending blow after blow and Sanyu just barely being able to block them with his earthbending, but that luck wouldn't last. As Sanyu bended up another wall the stone man threw a punch hard enough that it shattered the wall and threw Sanyu back. The stone man then charged at Sanyu ready to strike again while Sanyu was down.

Before the stone man was able to land another punch Kali came rushing over again, diving at Sanyu and pushing him out of the way of the blow. She then turned around as they landed on the ground and shot a gust of air at the stone man but it was too heavy to be affected by the air. As the stone man sent another punch down at them Sanyu quickly reacted, but instead of making another wall to block the punch he bended the earth of the stone man's fist. As the fist was about to hit Kali it suddenly exploded away from her and back towards the stone man, shattering into little pebbles.

While the stone man was temporarily disabled Kali quickly ran out of the way with Zéi but Sanyu stayed instead of moving. Sanyu shot out his fist at the stone man again and the center of his body shattered out through the back. The stone man immediately crumbled down to the ground as Sanyu and Kali got back up but unfortunately they weren't able to celebrate their victory. As soon as the stone man crumbled down it started to reform again rather quickly. Before the two could react to this new danger the stone man once again flung Kali into the air. Instead of landing on the ground as she had before she landed on the metal walkway attached to the wall, using her airbending to prevent her harm.

Kali watched as Sanyu fought the strange being, all the while trying frantically to think of how to defeat it. There had to be something causing this even if it was a spirit. She looked around the room hastily hoping that something would give her a clue on how to defeat this being, and luckily for her she found something. Farther down along the metal walkway stood a dark figure hidden partially in the shadows. What made this figure different than the stone man below was that this shadowy figure appeared to be human. Not only that, but as Kali watched his movements and the movements of the stone man she saw that this shadowy figure appeared to be the one controlling, in fact bending, the stone man.

Kali didn't waste any time in deciding what to do. Unwilling to risk Sanyu any longer she darted down the walkway towards the man. As she neared the man he finally noticed her coming and started to turn to fight her but Kali was able to react before the man. Before the man could fully realize what was going on Kali shot out a gust of wind towards him, blowing him up and back into the wall following with him falling over the edge of the walkway. As the man fell to the ground Kali jumped off of the walkway and down to the ground below.

Immediately the stone man crumbled to the ground completely lifeless. Sanyu was completely clueless as to what had happened and looked around the room for answers. It wasn't until he saw Kali standing over a man against the wall that he understood. Sanyu quickly rushed over, pulling up a rock from the ground and aiming it at the fallen person.

"Alright alright, I give up," the man said as he straightened into a sitting position. He was a rather old man, with a large bald spot on his head and the hair he did have flying around everywhere. He was wearing old, dirty brown clothes and despite his age seemed rather fit.

"Why did you attack us?" Sanyu asked.

"Well a man has to protect his own life," the man answered. "So you're going to kill me now?"

"What?" Kali asked, shocked. "Why would we kill you?"

"Well isn't that why you're here?" the man asked. "Weren't you sent by the Fire Nation to kill whatever was causing the problems in here?"

"Um, no," Kali said. "Wait, you mean you caused everything here?"

"Of course I did," the man said as he stood. "Name's Han. I single handedly drove the Fire Nation out of here by making them think this place was infested with ghosts."

Kali and Sanyu both looked at each other and back at Han with complete surprise. "Wait a second," Sanyu eventually said. "That was fourteen years ago. Why are you still here?"

"'Cause I live here," Han answered. "Place kind of grew on me so I never left. So if you're not here to kill me then what do you want?"

"Oh, well um, you wouldn't happen to know where those old airbender relics from the stories are, would you?" Kali asked.

"Of course," answered Han. "They're right behind that door." Han pointed down towards the dragon faced door at the end of the room. A smug look appeared on Kali's face after hearing this information. Kali started to walk towards the door but Han stuck out a hand in front of her.

"You wouldn't happen to be grave robbers, would you?" he asked suspiciously.

"What? No," Kali said, suddenly getting a bit nervous. Even though she was telling the truth, she still wasn't sure how this man would react if she told him she was an airbender. Han leaned in towards her, as if inspecting her or expecting her to do something strange.

"You're an airbender, aren't you?" he eventually asked after pulling away.

"Um, well yea."

"Then from what I see that stuff is rightfully yours," he said after a moment.

"Really? You mean it?"

"Of course," answered Han. "Wait here." As soon as Han said that he headed down towards the dragon headed door. With a simple turn of the knob the door opened and he disappeared inside. About a minute later Han reemerged with a large crate in his hands and a staff under his arm.

"Here you go," he said as he handed the crate and staff to Kali who took it earnestly. "Clothes, bending scrolls, and staff."

"Thanks," Kali said, looking eagerly down at the crate. "And um, you don't mind if we ask for one more favor, do you?"

"Go ahead. What do you need?"

"Well, we're kind of lost and don't know our way back out," Kali explained. "Do you think you could…?"

"Sure thing," Han answered. He immediately slammed his foot on the ground and directly following his action a large hole opened up in a break in the metal wall. Inside was a small staircase slowly ascending into the dark. Han led them into this staircase, and after some time walking a hole emerged on the hillside and they walked out.

"You don't seem surprised at all about meeting an airbender," Sanyu said as they walked out.

"I've lived a long time," Han said. "Trust me when I say this is one of the least surprising things I have seen."

"Thanks again for your help," Kali said. "But one thing I don't understand is why did you save our lives and then attack us right after?"

"Save your lives?" Han asked, confused. "When did I save your lives?"

"When you made the hole below us to save us from the cave in," Kali said. "You were the one that did that weren't you?"

"I didn't even know you were in here until you stumbled into the room we fought in," Han answered.

"But if you didn't do it then who…" Suddenly without warning the hole leading to the staircase was bended shut without any sign of who did it.

"You know, I'm getting kind of tired of living in there," Han said hastily as he started to run downhill. "I'm heading back to town!"

"Hey!" Sanyu shouted, now running even faster than Han. "Wait for me!"

With the two of them gone Kali and Zéi looked back down at where the entrance had been. "We don't have to worry," Kali told Zéi. "There's nothing there that will hurt us." But as she stared at the closed hole she started to have second thoughts.

"But just to be safe we should go back to town too," she said, and started running down to where Sanyu and Han went.

* * *

Next chapter: A Rose With Thorns

* * *


	8. A Rose With Thorns

And here is the next chapter. A little more stuff going on now. The mystery surrounding Kali grows.

* * *

Chapter 8

A Rose with Thorns

It was a peaceful morning as Sanyu walked through the forest. Although he hadn't originally come out here to enjoy the scenery, he still found it rather comforting to stand still and listen to the many sounds of the animals and to feel the soft breeze blow by him. It had been a while since Sanyu had found a place as peaceful as this forest and he was rather glad that the Fire Nation hadn't destroyed it, but he didn't know how long that would last. They had just reached Earth Kingdom territory, so close that the border was in fact just at the edge of the forest. The Fire Nation has been known to do some pretty drastic acts in order to achieve victory in the war, and Sanyu feared that they might do something to this forest in order to sneak through.

But all that was out of Sanyu's hands. He may have been able to help a starving town by stealing food for the people but there was no way he could stop an army from heading through the forest, not if it was just him and Kali. With this in mind he headed back towards the camp, but when he got there he felt that something wasn't quite right. He walked into camp and immediately started looking for the cause of this disturbing feeling, but he could not find the source. Everything appeared to be normal and as it was when he left: all the food was still there, the ostrich horses were still tied up to the nearby tree, and none of their things were missing.

But as he continued to search he noticed that something was indeed missing, but it wasn't just something, it was someone. Kali was nowhere to be seen within the camp and there were no traces of any sort of fight. In fact, Zéi was nowhere to be seen either.

"Kali?" Sanyu yelled, hoping that she was still nearby. "Kali, where are you?!"

"Will you stop yelling!?" said a sudden voice from nowhere. "I'm fine."

"Where are you?" Sanyu asked, as he could not see where she was nor tell where her voice had originated from.

"I'm behind the rock," she answered. "No need to freak out."

Sanyu immediately looked for a rock as Kali said this and noticed a rather large one at the edge of the camp. He quickly hurried over towards it and as he walked around to the other side he noticed Kali standing in a fighting stance wearing her new Air Nomad clothes. Upon a nearby tree stump sat Zéi who glanced up at Sanyu as he walked over and then back down at Kali who appeared to be focused on something.

"Why are you over here?" Sanyu asked.

"I didn't want to wreck anything back in the camp," Kali explained, not looking at Sanyu once. "Now could you keep it down? I'm trying to concentrate."

At first Sanyu was going to say something but realized that she probably wouldn't listen to him right now anyways. As he watched he saw Kali suddenly swung around and kick out with her back leg. As she kicked it out a small stream of air blew out from her foot and hit a nearby tree.

"Don't you think you've trained enough?" Sanyu asked. "You've been at it almost nonstop ever since you got that stuff and to be honest I'm getting a little worried about you."

"There's nothing you need to worry about Sanyu," Kali said as a small smile came upon her face. "It's nice that you care about me but I can't stop now. I still haven't figured this out."

"Figured what out?"

"Watch this," Kali said, and she got into her fighting stance again. As soon as Kali was sure Sanyu was watching she quickly spun around and kicked her leg out behind her in the direction she was facing just a second ago. A small gust of wind burst out of her foot again and headed towards a nearby tree, hitting one of the leaves on it and knocking the leaf off without doing arm harm to the branch or any other leaves.

"What can't you figure out?" Sanyu asked. "You seem to know that pretty well."

"That's the problem," Kali said as she looked back over at Sanyu.

"I don't understand."

"The thing is, I've hardly done this move at all," Kali explained. "I only did it like ten times before I got it perfectly. I can't figure out how I learned this so fast."

"Maybe one of the other moves you learned helped you with this?" Sanyu suggested.

"But it hasn't been happening with just this," Kali protested. "Every single move I've tried I've learned easily, like I already know them."

"And you don't know why? Maybe you're just a fast learner."

"I don't really know," Kali said as she sat down on a low stone. "It's just…I have this weird feeling like someone is guiding me when I do these moves. It feels like someone is slightly moving my arms into the right position each time I try. I don't know how to explain it."

"You sure you aren't thinking this just because you're tired?"

"I'm sure," Kali said as she looked up at Sanyu and then down towards the ground. "I just wish that there was someone to explain all this to me. Someone to tell me where to go and what to do and why so many people are interested in me."

"What are you talking about?" Sanyu asked growing slightly concerned. "I thought that General was the only person after you."

"I don't really know," Kali said. "A while back before I met you I met this strange old woman in a forest. She seemed nice at first but shortly after she tried to catch me. She said she had been searching for me for years and I just barely got away from her. I know that me being an airbender is weird, but I think there's something more about me that I don't know yet."

"I wish I could help you but I don't really know what's going on," Sanyu said. "But how about we head back to camp. You must be really tired and could use some rest."

"Well aren't you two a lovely couple," a voice suddenly said as Kali stood up. The two instantly turned to where the voice had come from and saw someone walk out from behind a nearby tree. She had gold eyes normal to someone of Fire Nation heritage, with shoulder length hair that curved ever so slightly at the end. She wore a short-sleeved red shirt covered by a black and gold stripped vest which only hooked together once in the area near her belly. Her pants were simple too, being a dark maroon that matched her shirt with a few black and gold strips running along the legs.

"What made you think we're a couple?" Sanyu asked as he started to blush.

"Who are you?" Kali asked the strange girl, not paying any attention to Sanyu's question.

"My name's Rose," she said, introducing herself. "I couldn't help but hear your little problem."

"How long have you been there?" Sanyu asked as he eyed the strange newcomer.

"I don't know," Rose answered. "Ten minutes maybe."

"So you were spying on us?"

"Yea, so what?" Rose said. "Look, I can bring you to someone who might know what's going on with you. It's some old dude who lives in these woods. Used to be some sort of scholar. So if you two are done being all cuddly with each other I can bring you to him."

"You really expect us to trust you when we have no idea who you are and why you were watching us?" Sanyu asked.

"Well what do you expect me to do? Even with all the crazy stuff I've seen seeing an airbender is still at the top of the list," Rose said as she glanced over at Kali. "Look, I don't care who you are, why you're here, or where you're going. I might know someone who can help you and just thought I'd be nice. If you want my help then I'll give it, 'cause if you don't then just tell me so you can stop wasting my time."

"Ok, we'll go," Kali said before Sanyu could say anything else.

"What?" Sanyu asked as he turned to face Kali. "You're going to trust her?"

"This might be one of the only chances I have at talking to someone who knows about me," Kali explained. "I'd thought you'd be all for it."

"I just don't think we can trust her," Sanyu explained. "You have to admit it's really suspicious when she just shows up out of nowhere and just happens to know someone who can help us."

"I know it's weird but I'm willing to risk it," Kali said. "Unless there's something you're not telling me. Is there anything wrong Sanyu?"

"It's obvious she's Fire Nation," Sanyu said. "We can't trust her."

"You don't seem to have a problem with me," Kali said. "I did grow up in the Fire Nation."

"I know but out here it's different," Sanyu explained. "Out here people from the Fire Nation only care about the war. All they care about is making people suffer and splitting up families. They're monsters and I'll never forgive them for what they did."

"Um hello," Rose said. "I can hear everything you're saying."

"Just trust me on this Sanyu," Kali said. "I just have a feeling this will turn out good. Please, for me?" Sanyu looked away and thought for a moment before responding.

"All right," he finally said. "Let's do it."

"Finally," Rose said, looking as impatient as ever. "You two talk way too much. Grab what you need and let's go, 'cause I'm getting tired of waiting."

Kali and Sanyu quickly headed back towards their camp and packed up their things. Luckily for them most of it was already packed and all that was left were a few pots and such from that day's lunch. Within minutes it was packed up and placed upon the ostrich horses, with Zéi sitting on Kali's shoulder.

As soon as they got back to Rose she immediately turned around and started leading them apparently not wanting to wait any longer. She seemed to not be a very talkative person for she hadn't said a word since they started and Sanyu seemed completely fine with this. But as they continued to walk through the forest Kali started to get curious about a few things, and decided to break the silence with a few questions.

"So…why are you trying to help us?" Kali asked. "You don't seem like you want to."

"Because I wanted to be nice," Rose explained. "This guy just happened to be in the direction I'm headed and I thought I'd help you out. And anyways, I'm kinda wondering what's going on here. It's not every day you see an airbender in the woods."

"How far away is this guy?" Sanyu asked.

"Not far," Rose answered. "Actually, we're here." As Rose said this, both Sanyu and Kali looked ahead of her and were quite surprised to see that she was right.

Ahead of them was a small shack which appeared rather run down and out of use. Surrounding it were larger bundles of tree branches and plants which obscured the view of the shack and hid it from anyone who wasn't specifically looking for it. It was surprising to think that anyone could live in such a place for it appeared to be hardly holding even itself up. Rose did not stop or slow down at all but just continued to proceed towards the front door as if everything was normal.

"How do you know he's even home?" Sanyu asked. "Doesn't look like anyone has been here for years."

"It's how he likes it," Rose said. "Keeps people away from the place. I can't blame him" When she got up to the door she didn't hesitate one bit before opening it and stepping in. Sanyu and Kali stood outside for a few seconds unsure if they should follow before finally deciding to step in after her. As soon as the two walked inside Rose shut the door behind them. Sanyu was about to ask Rose what was going on, but before he could four shadowy figures jumped out and shoved both him and Kali to the ground. Before either of the two could realize what was happening they were each tied up separately, both hands and feet, and pulled back up into a standing position. A fifth person who had come out after the two were shoved down held Zéi in his hands, who was wrapped tightly in a thick piece of cloth.

"What's going on?" Sanyu asked, staring at Rose. Rose did not even glance at them as two more all too familiar figures walked out from the shadows.

"I'm making sure that you two do not escape from me again," said Ozen as he walked up towards the two. "Not even letting that little furball of yours a chance to stop me."

"Why are you following us?" Kali asked.

"Because you have something I want," Ozen answered as he leaned down next to her. After saying this he turned around and walked over to Rose. "You did a good job, my daughter."

"So are you going to tell me how these two can actually help us find mom?" Rose demanded.

"Unfortunately I cannot do that," Ozen answered as two more soldiers walked up to either side of Rose. Rose immediately saw them come up and 

attempted to flee, but with the door shut behind her there was no place for her to go as the soldiers grabbed and tied her up. She tried her best to get free but in the end it was to no avail.

"What's going on?!" Rose demanded. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm sorry Rose but it has to be done," Ozen said calmly. "I know you don't approve of my methods and I know you will try to stop me if you find out what I mean to do."

"I can't believe I ever trusted you!" Rose spat at her father.

"I am only doing this to protect you," Ozen said as he turned towards the surrounding soldiers and Zin. "Take them back to the train and place them in a cell. I will be there shortly. Be prepared to leave."

* * *

It wasn't too long before they had made it back to the train of which Ozen had spoke of. They had been silent the entire time, with Sanyu and Kali probably thinking of some way to escape like last time. Unlike the other two though Rose was more concerned about why this was happening than on how to escape. She doubted any of the soldiers here would even take a second glance at her if she said something, but Zin was there also and she knew that he wouldn't be able to ignore her for long.

"So were you two planning on betraying me this entire time?" Rose asked with hostility in her voice. Immediately she could see the annoyance appear in Zin's face, but he tried his best to keep his voice calm.

"Be quiet," he said. "You're not supposed to talk."

"You didn't even know, did you?" Rose said. "I should've guessed as much."

"So what if father didn't tell me?" Zin snapped at Rose as he stepped aboard the train. "He probably just forgot. I know he would have told me if he remembered."

"Do you really believe that?" Rose asked as she was pushed up the few steps and into the doorway of the train. "Since when has dad ever told us what he's up to? He's always planning and scheming and keeping secrets from us. He doesn't care at all what happens to us."

Zin immediately turned around to this statement, making the soldiers who held Kali, Sanyu, and Zéi bump into each other in order to stop.

"That's a lie!" Zin shouted at Rose. "He's always looked out for us. It's you who stopped caring or you wouldn't have left."

"Was he looking out for mom when she left?" Rose asked. "Was he looking out for you when you got that scar?"

"Quiet!" Zin shouted. "I'm done listening to your lies. You were always jealous of me being the favorite child. This is what you get for disgracing father two years ago."

As soon as Zin finished he turned around and headed to one of the nearby doors. As he opened it the soldiers who held Rose, Kali, Sanyu, and Zéi walked over and threw them all in. Before Zin could shut and lock the door Rose shouted one last thing out to him.

"So this is how you comfort yourself?" she said. "Even if you don't believe it I do care about you Zin. I just don't want you hurt when dad abandons you like he did to mom."

"You're wrong; you'll see" Zin said as he shut the door and walked away.

"So what do we do now?" Kali asked Sanyu.

"We're going to get out of here," Rose answered.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Sanyu asked. "You're the reason we're in this mess in the first place. I'd rather just leave you here with your perfect little family."

"Hey, you have no idea why I did this and what my reasons were, so you have no right to judge me," Rose said.

"Well you spy on us, have a terrible attitude, and then lead us into a trap to get caught," Sanyu told Rose. "Sorry if you're not one of my top friends. And I doubt you know of any way out of here anyways."

"Oh and you do pretty boy?" Rose asked sarcastically. "Maybe I could use your head to break down the door. Would make you at least a little useful."

"Stop it you two!" Kali said over Sanyu and Rose. "Fighting isn't going to get us out of here. Like it or not we need to work together. Ok?"

"Ok," Rose said.

"Fine," Sanyu said.

"Now Rose, do you have a plan to escape?" Kali asked.

"Yea," Rose answered. "It's simple. We break free, get our stuff, stop the train, and leave. You two can fight right?"

"Yea, but how do you expect us to get out of here?" Sanyu asked, still wondering if he could trust her.

"Plain and simple my brother is an idiot when he's mad," Rose explained. "When he left he forgot to switch my binds with chains. A few more minutes and I should be free."

Sanyu was about to ask what she meant by that, but before he could say anything Rose turned around to reveal her bound wrists. The thick strap that had been tied around her wrists was being very slowly burned through by an unknown heat source. It was very obvious to both Kali and Sanyu that Rose, like her father and brother, was a firebender. After a minute or two more of this the binds were finally burned through enough for Rose to pull her arms open and break them. When she had completely freed herself she quickly headed over to Kali, Sanyu, and Zéi, untying each one respectively.

As soon as Rose untied Zéi, he jumped onto her head, hitting her lightly a few times before she fell over onto the floor and he jumped off onto Kali's shoulder.

"I don't think he forgives people easily," Kali joked as Rose got back up.

"Just keep that stupid fleabag away from me before it goes missing," Rose said, not amused at all by Kali's joke. "Let's just go."

"So how are we going to get out of here?" Kali asked. "I don't think any of us can break down a metal door."

"Well remember when I said my brother is an idiot when he's angry?" Rose asked. As she said this she walked over to the only door to the room. When she got there, she simply just turned the handle and pulled the door open. "For once my brother's stupidity is actually a good thing."

She quickly headed out into the hallway not waiting long for Kali and Sanyu and headed down towards the end of the hallway. "Our stuff is going to be in the back," she explained. "They probably have it well guarded, so be ready for a fight."

* * *

The two soldiers stood in front of the door to the storage room at the back of the train, just as they had ever since Ozen had come back. One of them was a rather muscular man with a mustache, and the other tall but skinny. Neither of them knew why they needed to protect things such as the two ostrich-horses and the packs that Ozen and his men had come back with, but both soldiers did not care. They were given orders to guard this door and let none pass and they didn't want to mess it up, especially after how furious Ozen was when they had let that young girl escape back at the orphanage in the Fire Nation.

So the two just stood on either side of the door not saying anything for there was nothing to say, and the muscular soldier was not one to open small talk.

"Hey," the tall soldier suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"What?" the muscular one asked. "This better be important."

"Have you ever wondered what you tasted like?" the tall one asked.

The muscular one, so caught off by this question, just turned to stare at his companion. "You're joking, right?" he eventually asked, starting to wonder about the man's sanity.

"I'm serious," the tall soldier said. "Animals always seem to want to eat us. I wonder if it's because we taste really good."

"Just shut up and get back to guarding before the General comes back," the muscular one said before turning back towards the hallway. But even though the muscular soldier wanted to forget about the recent conversation, he couldn't help but notice his companion moving slowly next to him. The tall soldier slowly and quietly lifted his hand up to his face and licked the back of it.

"What are you doing?" the muscular soldier finally said.

"Nothing," the tall soldier said as his hand quickly shot down to his side again. The muscular soldier just ignored it, but a minute or so later he noticed out of the corner of his eye the hand of the tall soldier going slowly up again. When it reached the soldier's head he softly licked his hand again.

"Why are you licking yourself?" the muscular soldier said as he turned to face his companion.

"I'm just curious," the tall soldier answered. "I just wonder what we taste like to animals."

"Why don't you go find one and ask it?" the muscular soldier said. "You'd do us all a favor."

"You can't really mean that," the tall soldier said. "We're best friends."

"Best friends?!" the muscular soldier said. "I'd rather—"

"What's going on here?" a female voice suddenly demanded, interrupting what the soldier was saying. The two soldiers quickly got back into their guarding position as Rose walked up the hallway towards them.

"Nothing ma'am," the muscular soldier answered. "Just guarding like we are supposed to."

"Good," said Rose. "Ozen is very pleased with your work. So pleased that he has asked me to take your place and give you a much needed break." The two 

soldiers looked at each other in response to this, completely dumbfounded at what they heard.

"But, he said we were supposed to stay here until the night shift came," the muscular soldier said. "He said he would not change our shift at all."

"Well if you don't believe me then I suppose I could go get him myself," Rose said. "But then of course you will have to explain to him why you did not trust the word of one of his own blood and had me interrupt his meal to bring him all the way down here. You wouldn't like that, now would you?"

"Well we'll wait here for him," the tall soldier started to say, but the muscular soldier immediately put his hand over the tall soldier's mouth to stop him from talking.

"You don't have to worry ma'am," the muscular soldier said. "We believe you. We'll head back to our room." When the soldier was done talking he grabbed onto the tall soldier and dragged him down towards the other end of the hallway.

"But isn't our room that way?" the tall soldier asked as he was pulled away before the muscular soldier shushed him. When the two soldiers were out of sight Rose made a little motion with he hand and Kali and Sanyu came out from around the corner.

"Your stuff should be in here," Rose said as she led the other two inside. She was indeed right for the first thing they saw on the other side of the room were the two ostrich-horses with the packs still tied onto them. Leaning against the wall near them was Kali's staff. Rose quickly picked up the staff and tossed it over to Kali.

"We'll leave the rest here for now," she explained. "My bag is here too, so once we get the train to stop we can just come back here, grab everything, and run out."

"So how are we going to stop the train?" Sanyu asked Rose. "Shut down the engine?"

"No," Rose said sarcastically. "I'm going to go up to the driver and say 'Could you please stop so we can get off? We're not really enjoying the ride.' Now could you please just follow me, do what I say, and stop asking stupid questions."

Sanyu was about to say something in return as Rose walked out the door but Kali put her hand in front of Sanyu to stop him. Kali could easily tell that Rose wasn't too fond of Sanyu after the way he had treated her before, and this was probably her way of payback, but she just hoped that Rose wouldn't take it too far and cause a fight. They all headed through the carts as fast as they could and surprisingly enough encountered almost no one along the way. They only ran into one person, and were easily able to avoid him. As they were heading down through one of the hallways Rose immediately stopped so fast that Kali and Sanyu almost fell over each other trying not to hit her.

"We're here," she said as she looked up at a large pipe running out of the wall and over them. "This is one of the water pipes that connect directly to the engine." She reached up her hand and flipped one of the switches on the wall. "I mess around with some of these and I can take part of the pipe out. Without this pipe the engine will shut down to save water."

"How do you know this stuff?" Sanyu asked. "You don't seem like the kind of person who would know how to run this."

"I don't," Rose said as she flicked another switch. "I just heard them talking about it earlier. Thought it might be good to remember. Just about got it. Stand 

back." As soon as Rose said that she flipped one last switch and a large section of the pipe fell out. Although it was on hinges which prevented it from falling off, the water which came out still rushed out immediately in full force, missing both Rose and Kali but completely soaking Sanyu.

"Oh, sorry," Rose said with a smirk on her face as the water flow shut off automatically. "Forgot about that." All Sanyu did in response was glare at her while he spit out a small stream of the water that had hit him.

"We don't have time to wait for this thing to slow down," Rose explained as she walked over to a large lever on the floor. "So I'm going to speed things up. Grab onto something." When she had finished talking, she quickly yanked the lever in the opposite direction.

* * *

The soldiers all sat in the mess hall of the train as they ate their food. They never had to patrol the halls before, so the only people who hadn't come were those running the engines, driving the train, and the two fools that Ozen had set to watch the storage room. There was a rather cheery air in the room for they had succeeded in capturing the airbender girl and of course their commanding officer was happy. All was well with everyone as Major Lee walked into the room and up to Ozen.

"I have some news you might like to hear sir," Major Lee said in a low voice that only Ozen would hear.

"Go ahead," Ozen said.

"We haven't found where exactly the artifact is yet," Lee explained. "But we do know a general area of where it might be. There are quite a few towns in there so it will require some searching, but we should be able to find it after some work."

"That is good to hear," Ozen told the man. "Report back to me when you find anything else. Now why don't you join us for dinner Major? The soup is quite good."

"Thank you sir, but I am not very hungry," Major Lee said.

Before Ozen could continue talking the train suddenly made a large jerk backwards, causing everyone in the room to go flying onto the floor. Many of the men fell on top of each other, and it took a minute or two to get back up and try to figure out what was going on. Ozen wasn't as lucky as the others for when he fell over the soup he had been eating had fallen on top of him.

"What's going on?!" Ozen shouted as he wiped the liquid out of his eyes. "Why did we stop?"

"Someone activated the brakes in one of the cars!" someone shouted from the door. "One of the water pipes has also been opened!"

"Get some men down there and fix it now!" Ozen shouted at the man. Before he could say another word Major Lee reached out a finger and wiped some of the soup off Ozen's face, tasting it a second later.

"You're right," Lee said. "It is pretty good."

"Stop fooling around Major!" Ozen said as he got up. "Get some soldiers ready and come with me. We're going to check on the prisoners."

* * *

"Hurry up you two!" Rose shouted back towards Kali and Sanyu. The three of them were running as fast as they could back down the train to the storage room. They knew that they did not have much time to get off since the sudden jerking of the train stopping would have definitely drawn some attention. It wasn't long before they had made it back to the storage room where they quickly grabbed the ostrich-horses and their things and headed towards a nearby door. Things were going just as they had planned as they stepped out onto the ground, but that wasn't going to last for long.

"Get down!" Rose suddenly shouted as she tackled both Kali and Sanyu. Immediately after they hit the ground a large blast of fire blew out over them, just barely missing them. "Get up and let's go! We have to hurry!"

They ran across the ground away from the train as fast as they could with the ostrich-horses behind them. Although they did not dare waste the time to look back they knew that they were being followed by at least a few soldiers. Suddenly Kali quickly grabbed and pulled the other two in an attempt to stop them, almost causing them to fall over in the process. Just slightly ahead of them all was a large cliff.

They quickly turned around in hopes of finding another way to go, but the Fire Nation soldiers were too close for them to get by. Rose immediately got into a fighting stance, preparing for the battle to come, and Sanyu and Kali did the same right after.

"Take care of the other two!" Zin shouted to the soldiers. "The girl is mine."

Following what Zin had said, the soldiers all headed towards Sanyu and Rose while Zin ran straight for Kali. Kali knew that unlike last time Zin would probably be more prepared and not as easy to trick, but luckily for Kali she also knew quite a bit more about airbending. Zin wasted no time at all before attacking when he was close enough and immediately shot out a stream of fireballs at Kali. Kali used her airbending agility to easily dodge them and jump over Zin's head.

As soon as she landed she swung her staff out, sending a gust of air towards Zin and causing him to fall over. Although Zin was caught off guard he quickly recovered. He spun his legs around him in a circle sending fire out around him and jumped back up onto his feet. He then proceeded back to sending fire blasts out at Kali again, this time much faster than he had before. Kali was barely able to dodge them each time, sending out gusts of air as she dodged Zin's attacks.

Sanyu and Rose weren't fairing any better than Kali was. The soldiers had immediately rushed at the two, sending out fireballs in hopes to overwhelm them. Sanyu quickly brought up a rock wall in front of him to protect him as Rose jumped out of the way of the fire directed at her. Two of the soldiers charged at Sanyu attempting to break through his rock wall with fire, but he threw the wall ahead of him and into the two soldiers, throwing them far back and onto the ground. As Rose avoided the soldiers trying to catch her she shot small fire blats back at them. Unfortunately though she was outnumbered and the soldiers were eventually able to knock her down onto Sanyu, leaving them both wide open as the soldiers surrounded the two kids.

Things weren't going to well and it was only going to get worse. Out in the distance from the direction of the train Ozen was running as fast as he could towards the battle. He had already lost Kali twice before, and he was not eager to do so again. As Zin and Kali continued their battle Zin was getting more and more impatient. As a result, each fireball he sent towards Kali became larger and more dangerous, to the point where she could get severely hurt if one hit her.

"Do not harm the girl!" Ozen shouted to his son as he continued to run over. "I need her alive!" But it was too late. Whether Zin did not hear his father or did not want to hear him was unknown, but just then he sent out another ball of fire towards Kali causing her to drop her staff and almost fall over. As soon as she regained herself she went straight for her staff but Zin sent out a large ball of fire in her direction. She had no time to react whatsoever as the large, ominous fireball headed towards her. But just as the fire was about to engulf her, the most unexpected thing happened.

Just as the fireball was about to hit Kali, a bright purple light suddenly appeared from where she was standing. The ball of fire was almost instantly extinguished, and as the light faded Kali became visible again, although looking stunningly different. Most of her body remained the same, but now her eyes were emitting a faint purple glow, the same color as the before. Upon her forehead was also a very strange symbol, which appeared to be a curved triangle placed upon a three pronged spiral.

The sudden flash of light had attracted the interest of everyone there, and now they all stared at this strange site not sure of what to make of it. Before Zin could think of any way to react to this, Kali immediately sent out a large gust of wind at him. The gust was so large and strong that it not only picked up Zin and threw him into the air, but also picked up all the soldiers surrounding Sanyu and Rose. Surprisingly enough, Sanyu and Rose were completely unaffected by this wind and they quickly got up and ran towards Kali. Off in the distance Ozen watched with a look of complete shock on his face.

"I was right," Ozen said as he stared in amazement. "She is the one." As Ozen stared at the occurring events both Zin and the soldiers flew over Ozen only to land in front of the train seconds later. Sanyu and Rose quickly made their way to Kali as they watched in shock.

"What did you do?" Sanyu asked as he got to Kali.

"I'm wondering that too but we don't have time to talk," Rose said as she brought the two ostrich-horses over.

"I'm not letting you escape again!" Ozen shouted as he finally broke out of his trance. As soon as he finished talking he jumped forward and sent out a giant ball of fire towards all three of them. Kali quickly moved as if she had been expecting this and shot her palm out towards the air between her and Ozen. Immediately a bright beam of purple light shot out and collided with the fireball. As soon as the impact happened there was a huge explosion and Ozen was immediately knocked back from the force. Kali turned towards Rose and Sanyu as they continued to stare dumbfounded at what they just saw.

"Run," was all that escaped her mouth before she suddenly fainted and Sanyu caught her.

"You heard her!" Rose yelled as she grabbed the ostrich-horses and pulled them over. Both Sanyu and Rose quickly placed Kali up upon one of the ostrich-horses, and when she was secure Sanyu quickly jumped on behind her. When all three were up and ready upon the ostrich-horses, Sanyu and Kali on one and Rose on the other, the bolted away from the train as fast as they could down into the nearby forest.

* * *

The setting sun shown across the lake within the forest as Rose and Sanyu sat upon the shore watching. They had easily escaped the Fire Nation after Kali had blown them away but neither of them was sure how such a thing had happened. Kali lay up against a tree nearby still unconscious and Sanyu was getting worried about her. But all of a sudden she started to move and her eyes opened.

"Where are we?" she asked as she opened her eyes and sat up.

"Was wondering when you would wake up," Rose said as Sanyu rushed over and knelt beside Kali.

"Are you ok?" Sanyu asked.

"I think so," Kali said as she tried to stand up. "I don't know what happened. One minute I was fighting that boy, and then suddenly a bright purple light blinded me. I can't remember much, but I remember my body moved on its own and threw them all back. I have no idea what happened."

"So does this kind of stuff happen to you all the time?" Rose asked as Kali stood up.

"Yea, pretty much," Sanyu answered her.

"I just wish I knew what was going on," Kali said. "So many things are happening and I just wish I knew why. If no one at Ba Sing Se knows anything, I really don't know what to do."

"We'll figure this out, don't worry," Sanyu told Kali.

"And I'm coming with you," Rose said as she walked over.

"What?" Sanyu asked. "Why?"

"That's none of your business," Rose said and Sanyu glared at her. "Look, there's something I need to take care of, and I think she's the only one who can help me with that. Besides, if my dad wants you 'cause of whatever you did back there, then it can't be good."

"Well it's good to have you with us," Kali said to Rose. "Right Sanyu?"

"Fine then," Sanyu said. "But there's just one problem that needs to be fixed first." Before Rose could say anything Sanyu walked up to her and pushed her into the lake.

"A little payback from before," he said as he started to laugh and soon after Kali joined in. Rose wasn't too happy at first, but a small smile appeared upon her face and remained there as she stepped out of the water.

* * *

There you go. Hope you enjoyed it. Now things are really starting to pick up.


End file.
